You're Not Lost
by r2roswell
Summary: Gold tells the Charmings that their daughter Emma will break the curse at age 18 not age 28. Neal must make a choice.
1. Destiny

Author's Note: Part in italics is from 2x04- "Tallahassee"

* * *

**Chapter 1: Destiny**

* * *

_"She has a destiny," August said to Neal in the darkened ally, "and you, this life, you're gonna keep her from it. Okay you believe in magic?"_

_Neal swallowed and looked at August intently feeling as if he had somehow been exposed. "I take it you do," Neal said diverting the question from himself._

_"So will you. Trust me. I'm gonna show you something, something that's gonna make you look at everything differently and when you see what I have in here you're gonna listen. You're gonna believe every word I say."_

_"Yeah right," said Neal. He took a look in the box and a wave of panic washed through his insides. He looked at August. "Kay I'm listening."_

_"There's a curse," said August, "and it needs to be broken. Emma is the key. I was tasked with keeping her on track and you my friend just got caught in the crossfire. Now I'm gonna tell you a story and at the end of it you're gonna have to make a decision: will you do the right thing or not? So, are you ready?"_

Neal wasn't sure if he was ready for anything. He had spent years flying under the radar and now that old life that he had tried so hard to run from had finally caught up to him.

He nodded as he listened to Augusts' story.

* * *

After the tale was over Neal shook his head, "I won't do it. I won't leave her."

"You don't have a choice," said August, "and ultimately we both know what choice you're going to make. Emma can fulfill her destiny and you can go on with the rest of your life without all of this."

"I don't care," Neal replied boldly. "I've made my choice."

"So you're going to stay away," asked August.

"Wrong. I love Emma so I'm staying with her."

August began to seethe and protest. "If you do this-," but Neal cut him off.

"I'll get Emma on the path she needs to be on. I owe it to her to get her back to her family but if she has to do this then I am not leaving."

August knew by this point that Neal would not budge. He had known of their plan to run away together and now it was coming true, only difference was that Neal was willing to sacrifice his own issues for the sake of getting Emma home.

"Guess we have our work cut out for us then," said August. "I'll do some recon see if I can find out where they are." August got on his bike. "Don't hurt her," he said to Neal.

"I won't," Neal shot back.

"I'll see you around Baelfire."

Neal watched as August drove away, hating that he had just been called by a name he longed to forget.

He took a breath after what felt like a long time. Neal still knew there was a way out. Now that he knew who Emma was he could run and never look back and he could continue running in homes of never being found.

The sound of his cell phone in his pocket brought him out of his personal thoughts.

He saw the number and smiled. No he couldn't run. It was no longer about him anymore. She had spent her whole life alone and now Neal had the chance to change that. And not only was it to get her back to her family, but the truth that he was in too deep. He loved her way too much to walk away and he had to rely on that strength to get him through his own ordeal.

The phone rang for a third time.

"Hey," Neal said answering.

"Hey," Emma said, "Where are you?"

"Sorry I got held up. I'll meet you at our spot in half an hour."

"Everything okay," she asked.

"Fine, why would you ask that?"

"You sound different."

Neal cleared his throat. Even through the phone she could tell when he was keeping something from her.

"So everything okay," she asked again.

"It will be," Neal said with a confidence he hadn't felt at all this night. "Emma, I love you."

From her end Emma smiled, "I love you too babe. See you in half an hour."


	2. Life Altering

**Chapter 2: Life Altering**

* * *

Seven weeks had passed since Neal had fenced the watches. He received $25,000 for the case and had joined Emma like said he would.

In that time August had kept in touch with Neal and asked how the plan was in getting Emma to break the curse and to tell Neal that his warrant was no longer an issue. Neal knew better than to ask how August had managed that one.

He and Emma now had a descent apartment in Manhattan, New York and Neal had managed to get a job with social services helping unwanted kids. He had to give credit to August for that at least. Without a warrant for his arrest he could apply for work.

"You're stalling," August said over the phone.

Neal stood out in the hall of his apartment, keys in hand but he couldn't bring himself to go in until the conversation was finished.

"I'm not stalling."

"I told you about Storybrooke weeks ago. You said you would get Emma on her path but all you're doing is playing house. It has to stop Neal."

"I need more time."

"How much more: ten years, eleven? We don't have that have that luxury so get off your ass and start doing something about it."

August hung up as did Neal. He wanted to fling his phone across the hall but instead all he did was look at it and say "Dick."

* * *

Neal took a deep breath and unlocked the door to the apartment. When he entered he saw Emma standing with her back towards him. Something about it felt off. He started to worry.

"Emma, what's wrong?"

Emma raised her right hand and fingered with the yellow dream catcher that hung on the window.

"Remember the day we found this," she asked.

"How could I forget, that was one of the most fun days I had in a long time," he said wrapping his arms around her.

Emma pulled away and walked over, taking a seat on the couch.

"Okay what's going on," he asked. "You've been acting weird for days."

Emma looked up at Neal for the first time since he got home. In her eyes he saw a sadness that he had never seen before from her even though it was a look he himself knew all too well. Emma had always been strong and been able to survive. She kept a hard front that she rarely let anyone see beneath the surface. Now as he looked at his girlfriend he could see the lost girl that was tucked away behind the armor.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Neal froze. He could not move. Those two life altering words shook him to his very core. Emma couldn't be pregnant. She was only seventeen. And he couldn't be a father, there was no way. The thought of kids had never even occurred to him, not really and when he had thought about it he pushed it away for his own selfish reasons.

He could see the sadness in Emma's eyes. This was clearly something she hadn't considered either. Neal wanted to be there for her, to say something, tell her everything would be okay, anything but he couldn't. He couldn't move his own legs. All he could do was bring his hands to his face and try to prevent his own tears from being released.

Emma had been watching Neal the whole time and what she saw made her nervous. She had never seen Neal this way. There had been times when he had gotten frustrated but now he looked scared as if the words had caused some ghost to manifest between them. She wouldn't have doubted it, neither of them was parent material and neither of them had the best role models to rely on.

The nervous tension in the room was starting to make her uncomfortable.

"Neal, please say something."

"I uh… I need to think," Neal said taking his keys and leaving.

Emma noticed he left his cell behind. She jumped a little when Neal slammed the door behind him.

"Yeah," she said to herself.

At this very moment Emma hated herself. Things in her life were going too good so it made sense that it would eventually erupt and finally be destroyed. That was the way things worked in her life: one foot inside a safe zone where she could try to be happy and the other on the outside waiting for things to go bad and when they did she could be ready to bail. But where would she go? She was still working on her plan of becoming a bail bonds person and that could take up close to a year and during the time she was also working a waitressing job, something her bosses considered her overly skilled at since she was not good with people and she was always good at figuring out people and the ones who lied about their orders just to get a rattle out of the workers but she needed the money.

And now she wasn't sure what she was going to do regardless if she planned on keeping the baby or not. Right now she wasn't so sure: keep the baby and lose Neal or keep Neal and lose the baby. Those seemed to be her only options and either way she would lose.


	3. Choices

**Chapter 3: Choices**

* * *

Neal sat at a bar down the street with an untouched beer in front of him.

"I tried your cell," August said taking a seat next to Neal. "Emma answered."

"Did you talk to her?"

"You know I never do."

"Then do me a favor August, go away," he said looking at the man with distain in his eyes.

"You know I can't do that. If you can't get her on track then I will and I'll do it without you."

"I'm gonna say it again, go away."

"Something's going on with you. What, you and Emma break up or something?"

"It's not like that," Neal said.

"But it has something to do with her. What is it, what's wrong with Emma?"

Neal took a breath. There was no point in keeping things from August and he was bound to find out what was going on no matter which way things went.

"She's pregnant. Emma's pregnant."

"You knocked her up!" August said loudly causing some people to turn and look at the two.

"Would you keep it down, I all ready feel like hell."

August lowered his voice. "Sorry, so what are you going to do?"

"Don't know, been sitting here for hours trying to figure that part out. If I walk away Emma's better off but then I'm just like my father. If I stay sure we could maybe have a good life. I get Emma on her path but that means seeing my father and him being near my kid. I can't put them through that. They're better off without me."

"Maybe but can you honestly live with yourself if you abandon your kid the way your father abandoned you? I don't need to tell you what to do you decided the moment you came in here. It's the reason why you haven't touched that beer."

Neal hated August but the guy could be wise and useful on the rarest occasion.

* * *

"Emma," Neal called out later that night when he arrived home. His heart started to race. "Emma where are you," he asked making his way to the bedroom and bathroom but she wasn't there. "Emma," he called a third time.

"I'm out here," she said from the fire escape.

Neal looked outside and saw Emma sitting on the steps.

"I thought that," he said making his way outside, "you had left."

"I considered it."

"But you didn't, why?"

"I don't know," she said shaking her head.

Neal looked at his girlfriend and took a seat next to her.

"I'm sorry for storming out like that. It wasn't fair to you."

Emma shrugged, "No it wasn't but life rarely is isn't it? Besides I probably would have left too only I can't since thing is stuck inside of me so where I go it goes."

Neal took a deep breath and swallowed. "Do you want it to be?"

Emma wanted to tear at Neal's throat for asking that question but she couldn't. It was a valid question to ask and one she had been asking herself for the past several hours as she sat alone with her thoughts in the apartment.

"I don't know. I can't be a mother but at the same time…"

Neal looked at Emma's abdomen. "It's you and me in there," he added.

Tears were starting to trickle down Emma's face, "Yeah," she admitted.

Neal reached down for Emma's hand and squeezed it. "Then let's keep it," he said to her.

Emma turned to look at him. The sadness she had seen earlier was gone and in place was that bright twinkle that had made her fall for him after he got her out of the jam when a cop had pulled her over for passing through a stop sign; that look of optimism.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah why not?"

"I'm seventeen."

"So people have been having kids since before then."

"Neal, look at us. We didn't exactly have the best role models growing up. We're not exactly parent material."

"So what, we can figure this out. We don't have to be like our parents- we don't have to give him up. We can give him a home, we can love him."

"What if it's a girl?"

Neal smiled, "We can love her too." Neal took Emma's other hand and the two were now facing each other. "I love you Emma. I don't want to be like my father. I don't want to take the easy way out."

"I thought you said you didn't know who your father was."

Neal nodded. That was what he had said to her. He decided for now it was best to dance around her comment.

"Which only proves my point since he's not around," said Neal. "Regardless of who he is, if he ever gave a damn about me he wouldn't have let me go. Let's not do that to our kid."

Emma squeezed Neal's hands. "Okay," she said to him.

Neal smiled. "Okay."

Emma allowed herself to take a breath now that the hard stuff was over. "So we're really doing this? I'm going to have this baby and we're going to be a family and our baby is going to grow up here and have a lot of friends?"

"Sounds pretty good right?"

"Sounds perfect."

Neal smiled and leaned in to kiss Emma, "I love you," he said to her.

"I love you too."


	4. Another Banner Year

**Chapter 4: Another Banner Year**

* * *

Neal smiled at Emma as she slept. It had been four weeks since their talk on the fire escape and things had been going smoothly of the most part other Augusts' insistence which Neal had been ignoring slightly but was now trying to think of a way to pursue it as August had helped him out in getting forged papers for Emma to become a bail bonds person so as to speed things up for Emma.

Emma stirred and turned to look at Neal.

"What are you smiling at," she said softly as she began to wake up.

"You, you're so beautiful you know that?"

Emma rolled her eyes and head, "Shut up."

"No I mean it." Neal lifted up Emma's shirt, "and look."

Emma looked down at her belly and in the center was a round defined bump that hadn't been there before. It baffled her at how fast time was flying now that she was twelve weeks pregnant and all ready starting to show. She had been reading up on material and had heard some first time pregnant women began to show that early but she didn't ever believe she'd end up being one of them. Emma gently and slowly made circles with her fingers over the protrusion.

"It's real now isn't it," she asked.

"Yeah it's real."

Neal took Emma's face and kissed her lips, he then moved down to her abdomen where her shirt was still up revealing her belly.

"Hey buddy, I'm your dad," he moved up and placed a second kiss on Emma's lips. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Emma nodded as Neal left the room. With him gone Emma continued to marvel at her newly shaped form. She had never imagined herself as a mother but now that she and Neal had decided to keep their baby she could not imagine anything more in the world that she wanted most, well almost anything but it had been a childhood dream that she knew would never happen.

* * *

"Okay close your eyes," Neal said from the other room.

"Neal what's going on?"

"I promise you'll see in a minute but right now just close them." Emma did so. "Are they closed?"

"Yes they're closed."

"Good," Neal said with a smile.

He walked into the room with a filled tray and placed it on the night stand on his side of the bed. Emma's senses were alert, the aromas of something sweet filling the room.

"Can I open them now?"

"Not yet," Neal said helping Emma into a sitting position, her back leaning against the headboard. He pulled down her shirt and pulled up the blankets, Emma's belly protruding through. Neal smiled at the sight of it. He could remain mesmerized by her for all eternity but right now he didn't have that kind of time.

He reached for the tray and placed it gently o Emma's lap and then took his place on the bed next to her.

"Okay open."

Emma looked down at the tray before her. Placed on it were two mugs of hot chocolate, one with whipped cream and cinnamon, the other with marshmallows, a large cupcake and a black velvet box.

Emma forced back her tears.

"Happy birthday," Neal said to her.

"Neal, you didn't have to do this.

"Are you kidding of course I did. What's a birthday without some cake? You're the birthday girl so what do you want first: cake or present," Neal asked though he had picked up the box making up her mind for her.

"Go ahead, open it."

Emma did so. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the heat rising to her cheeks knowing what was in the box. In it was a sterling silver ring. In the center was a round frame of red and in the center was a swan with a flame of fire encircling it.

"A swan and fire," Emma asked him, "I don't get it."

Neal smiled, "You will. Emma Swan, will you marry me," he asked posing the question that came with the ring.

"Neal, I…"

"Now I know this is probably going too fast and we don't have to get married right away. And just so you know this timing isn't really off. I had planned on proposing long before you told me about the baby," he said with his smile."

"How could you even afford this?"

"Let's just say this was a friend's way of making things up to you after he screwed things up in the first place."

"What are you talking about?"

Neal shook his head, "Nothing. I love you Emma and I can't imagine the rest of my existence without you."

Emma smiled, "Neither can I," she said kissing him deeply.

With one hand Neal held onto the tray so nothing would spill.

"So that's a yes then," Neal asked.

"What do you think," Emma said with a smile.

Neal smiled and slid the ring on her finger.

"I think we should delve into that cake."

"My thoughts exactly."

Emma was about to pick up the cake and take a bite when Neal stopped her.

"Hey no cheating," he said pulling out a match. "You gotta make a wish first."

"What's there to wish for? I have everything I need right here."

"There's always something people wish for," he said lighting the candle. "Go ahead, make a wish."

Emma closed her eyes and thought for a moment about what she wanted most next to Neal and their unborn child. She then opened them and blew out the candle.

"So what did you wish for?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"Okay true. Want to know what I wished for?"

"You made a wish?"

"More like had an idea," Neal corrected. "What would you say to moving?"

"Moving?"

"Yeah. All of this smog can't be good for you and the baby and I think it would be nice if we raised him in a little town somewhere."

"You've really been thinking a lot about this haven't you?"

Neal shrugged. "Just throwing out ideas."

"What about your job? What about my job?"

"We can get jobs anywhere. We can have a fresh start, somewhere new, somewhere… different."

"Like where Neverland?" Emma quipped as she had done once before.

Neal laughed at the joke and pulled out a withered postcard that he had received weeks ago from August.

"I was thinking somewhere in this realm," he said handing it to her.

Emma looked at it. "Storybrooke, Maine. Seriously?"

"Like I said, different. It's a small quiet town that most people don't even know about. It's perfect."

"When did you plan on going?"

"Today."

"You're not joking about this are you?"

"Nope."

Emma bit her lip and looked at Neal, "You know if I didn't want to lose you I probably wouldn't agree to this."

"Then it's a good thing you're not going to lose me," Neal said going in for a kiss but Emma pulled back.

"I do have one condition though."

"Uh-oh."

"No it's good. We can't keep calling our baby the baby or him or her or thing."

"So what are you suggesting?"

Neal took the tray and placed it back on the end table. Emma leaned herself back against the headboard and placed her hands over her small but growing belly.

"Well if it's a boy I was thinking David Henry and if it's a girl Eva Ruth. What do you think? I know they sound kind of old but-"

Neal placed a hand on top of Emma's. "No they're perfect. David Henry Swan, David Henry Cassidy. Eva Ruth Swan, Eva Ruth Cassidy- they all sound perfect."

Emma smiled thrilled that Neal was on board with the names she had chosen. She looked down at her belly.

"I still think it's a Henry though."

"So do I," said Neal.


	5. Storybrooke

**Chapter 5: Storybrooke**

* * *

Neal and Emma arrived in Storybrooke, Main at 8:15 PM that night. It seemed eerily quiet, almost as if the town had some kind of curfew where no one was out past eight.

Neal shut off the car and turned to look at Emma, "Well guess we're home."

Emma smiled, "Home. Now we just have to find a place."

"Diner's still open. Maybe someone in there can recommend something."

Emma nodded and the two of them got out of the car and made their way inside. A waitress with long dark hair and red streaks wearing a white shirt, red skirt, and apron stood behind the counter. There were a few customers, one of which was a slightly older woman about the age of the waitress with cropped brown hair sitting at a nearby table with a book.

Emma looked at her. There was something familiar. As if feeling the same thing Mary Margaret looked up at Emma, their eyes meeting and lingering.

Neal placed a hand on Emma's back. "Hey, you okay," he asked.

Emma shook her head. "Fine," she answered. She looked at Mary Margaret and said, "Sorry."

Mary Margaret too was taken out of her trance like state after watching Emma. "No, it's okay."

"I'll be with you in a minute," Ruby said to the couple.

Neal nodded and both he and Emma took a seat at the counter as Ruby took a drink over to Mary Margaret.

"So what can I get you," Ruby asked in an uninterested tone when she came over to the pair.

"We're looking for a place to stay," said Neal.

"Stay," Ruby repeated. "You mean here, in this town?" To her it sounded like the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"That's the plan," said Neal.

"Suit yourself," Ruby replied. "There's a B&amp;B on the other side. Just go through the door in back.

"Thanks," Neal said to her. He turned to Emma. "I'm gonna go check us in. It was a long drive, order anything you want," he said placing a kiss on top of her forehead before making his leave.

Emma ordered a hot cocoa and when it arrived Emma asked for a jar of cinnamon.

"Funny," Mary Margaret said behind Emma. Emma turned to look at her. "And here I thought I was the only one who had that quirk."

Emma smiled and walked over to Mary Margaret's table. Emma motioned to the chair, silently asking for permission. Mary Margaret nodded so Emma took a seat.

"Same here," Emma said continuing from the comment Mary Margaret had made. "It's something I've been doing for as long as I could remember."

Mary Margaret nodded in understanding as it had always been that way for her too. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard."

The door chimed behind Mary Margaret signaling the sign of a new customer.

Emma shook Mary Margaret's hand. "Emma. Swan."

"Emma," said Mr. Gold. Emma looked up to see an older man with a cane coming near their table. "What a beautiful name."

"Thanks," Emma said unsure about how to feel about the stranger's comment.

Ruby handed Gold a wad of cash; this month's rent.

"Thank you dearie," Gold said to her. He turned back to Emma. "So I take it you'll be staying with us? It's not often this town gets any visitors."

"That's the idea," said Emma.

"Hey Emma, I got our room," Neal said coming into the diner.

He looked up to see Gold standing near Emma and Mary Margaret; a woman who the older lady at the B&amp;B told him about. All of the nightmares Neal had ever had over the past three hundred or so years came to him in tenfold.

"Get away from her!" Neal shouted.

Gold turned to Neal. "I was just saying hello."

"I don't give a damn what you were doing."

Emma stood up and walked over to her boyfriend-slash-fiancé.

"Neal it's fine," she said placing a hand on his arm. He felt extremely rigid. "I'm fine."

Gold looked at Neal curiously. "Have we met before?

Neal looked coldly at his father. Gold recognized that look. It was the same eyes he had seen years ago. Gold nodded in understanding.

"Ah yes," Gold said in a soft tone. "Now I remember."

"Neal," said Emma, "What's going on?"

"She doesn't know does she," Gold asked, finding this highly amusing.

"That's my business," Neal shot back.

"Just as well I suppose," Gold said. "It was nice meeting you son and a pleasure meeting you Miss Swan."

Gold left the diner and after a minute Neal handed Emma one of the keys.

"I'll go get our bags," said Neal.

"Need any help?"

"It's okay I got it. You shouldn't be doing any heavy lifting anyways."

At that comment Mary Margaret glanced at Emma, noticing the small but visible bump on the girl's abdomen.

"You'll be safe with Mary Margaret," Neal said to Emma.

"I wasn't safe before? Babe, don't you think you're over reacting a little?"

Neal ignored the question. "I'll meet you in our room."


	6. Secrets & Talks

**Chapter 6: Secrets &amp; Talks**

* * *

On his way out to the car Neal diverted when he saw Gold walking on the sidewalk across the street.

"Hey," Neal called out.

Now that it was just the two of them, Gold dropped his rough demeanor.

"Bae," he said with a smile. "It worked. You're here. You came back for me."

"Nope," said Neal. "Let me make this clear. I'm not here for you. I'm here for Emma."

"Bae listen, please."

"No you listen: I know you cast this curse to find me but like everything with you it came at a cost. The only reason I'm here is for Emma. You took her away from her parents. It's my job to see that she gets them back."

"And what makes you think they're here?"

"Don't play games," Neal shot at Gold. "I know everything. I know Mary Margaret in there is Emma's mother and so do you. They share the same chin."

"You noticed that too. Though to be fair Miss Swan could have broken the curse without you and yet here you are so deep down you must still feel something for me."

"It's not about you don't you get it?"

"So you keep saying but please listen Bae, there's no magic here yet but when the curse is broken I can get it back. You and me, we can start over. I can make you a young man again."

Neal shook his head, "You're unbelievable. You're still thinking about you. I don't want to be a young man again."

"Why not?" Neal remained silent. "How do you and Miss Swan know each other?" Again Neal said nothing and Gold began to understand. "Ah I see you love her don't you? I can rewind the clock back for her too. Emma can grow up with her parents. If you two are truly meant to be together then I'm sure you'll find each other again."

Neal held up his hands. "Just stop! Stop thinking about yourself for one minute. I won't do that to Emma. You think I want to be like you and abandon my kid, no thanks. Do you have any idea the hell I've been through because of you? The nightmares you've left me with? Every night for more time than you know I see you choosing magic over your own flesh and blood, letting me fall into God only knows where. The only reason I'm here is to get Emma back with her parents. As far as you and I are concerned we're done."

"Bae."

"No. You stay away from me, you stay away from Emma, you stay away from my family." Neal held up his hands and began walking in the direction of his car. "Just stay away."

* * *

At the very same time that Neal was outside Emma sat at the table with Mary Margaret and watched Neal talking to Mr. Gold from the window.

"I'm sure everything's okay," said Mary Margaret trying to calm Emma's nerves.

"I'm not sure," Emma replied taking her eyes off the window and reaching for her cup to take a sip. She liked the feel of the whipped cream make its way down her throat. "Something feels off. Neal has never been this cold before."

"He could be stressed," Mary Margaret suggested.

"No I've seen him stressed. This is different."

Emma shook her head. "I'm sorry you probably have more interesting things to do than listen to me worry about my boyfriend."

"Actually things are pretty much the same around here. At least it feels that way sometimes. He seems like he cares about you though, almost protective."

"Yeah he does," Emma said with a smile.

"How long have you two been together?"

"About eleven months."

"And you two are expecting," Mary Margaret said motioning to Emma's belly. A blush lit up Emma's face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just couldn't help but notice."

Mary Margaret didn't mention anything about Emma's age. Though Emma looked young, about seventeen or eighteen, it wasn't her place to pry too deeply and so she didn't. And in general Mary Margaret didn't very much judge people. She had always done her best to give them the benefit of the doubt. What Emma's life had been before her recent arrival to Storybrooke was none of her business.

Emma placed a hand on her belly. "I guess it is starting to become a little obvious."

"You're glowing," Mary Margaret said with a smile. "How far along are you?"

"About twelve weeks."

Emma wanted to smile, to be happy but she couldn't. Not with her concern over Neal weighing down on her.

Subconsciously Mary Margaret reached over and placed a hand on Emma's. It felt like the natural thing to do even though they had just met. Emma looked down at their hands and it surprised her that she wasn't bothered by the act so she just left their hands as they were.

As if reading Emma's mind she said, "I'm sure whatever it is Neal is keeping from you he has his reasons. He'll tell you when he's ready. You just have to trust him."

"You sound like you've been through this before."

Mary Margaret let out a small laugh, "Me, no. I just think it's best to have faith in people. Sometimes they can surprise you even if at the moment they're scaring you or that you're worried about them. Sometimes people need a little push in the right direction, other times they need to clear their head before they can open up. You can't let that worry get to you though."

Emma continued to look at Mary Margaret as she gave her sound advice. It almost sounded like a mother giving advice to her daughter even though Emma had never known what that felt like.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way," said Emma, "but things feel easy with you. I feel like I can talk to you, really talk. I've never had that with anyone besides Neal."

Mary Margaret smiled. "It's funny I was thinking the same thing. I know it sounds crazy but I feel like we've met before. You seem so familiar and I know it's crazy because we haven't met."

Emma twirled her cup on the table. "It's not crazy." She then looked at Mary Margaret. "It feels that way to me too.

The two women continued smiling at each other until Ruby broke whatever abnormal thing was going on between them.

"Do you guys plan on staying here all night case you know we gotta close soon."

Both Emma and Mary Margaret placed some cash on the table and then stood up, making ready to leave.

"My place isn't far," said Mary Margaret, "so if you ever need anything or just want to talk again…"

"I'll know where to find you," Emma said.

Mary Margaret smiled. "It was nice to meet you Emma."

"You too," Emma said.

Mary Margaret made her leave through the front door and when she was gone Emma made her way to the back where her hotel room was located.

* * *

That night Neal had tried to put the evening behind him, but now given that they were in the same town, it was a lot harder than he expected it to be. Sleep didn't come quickly enough. He wondered if he had made the right decision in coming here.

Around two in the morning Neal finally closed his eyes but sleeping wasn't easy. Darkness almost flooded the forest around him except for a bright lime green shining light from a sinkhole that lead to another realm. Neal begged and called his father a coward and then Rumple let go, Neal falling into the abyss calling out for his papa but this time the memory didn't end completely lost in darkness. The memory repeated itself except now instead of Rumple being the Dark One and he a young fourteen year old boy, Neal was now the adult he had come to recognize and Rumple was the man he had argued with on the sidewalk.

Neal jolted awake. He could feel the sweat trickle down his forehead.

Emma woke up at the sound of Neal's movement. "Another nightmare," she asked rubbing his back.

She was familiar with Neal's nightmares though he never told her what they were about, saying that he couldn't remember.

"It's nothing," Neal said sounding out of breath.

"Neal, was moving here a good idea? You seem stressed. The way you were with Mr. Gold, I've never see you like that with anyone."

Neal did his best to calm himself so Emma wouldn't worry. He looked at her with a new softness in his eyes.

"This place is good for you, you'll see."

"And what about you," she asked, concern creeping in her voice, "What aren't you telling me?"

"What makes you think there's something to tell?"

Emma ran her fingers through Neal's short hair. He had cut it a couple weeks ago and Emma found him even more attractive.

"Because I know you," she said to him, "And I know when you're lying."

Neal played with Emma's hair and placed a hand on her belly. "Ah right your super power. You know I still don't buy that right," he teased.

"Shut up, yes you do."

Neal took a breath. "There are some things I'm not telling you but not because I don't want to. I just need some time."

Emma nodded. She thought back to the words that Mary Margaret had said to her earlier about having faith in people even if they were starting to get you worried. Trusting people didn't come easy to Emma but she loved Neal. It was clear he was hiding something and he even confessed as much but pressuring him seemed like the wrong way to go.

Emma wrapped her arms around his neck. "Take as much time as you need. I'm not going anywhere."

Neal turned his face toward her and kissed her lips. "How did I get so damn lucky," he whispered.

"I keep asking myself the same question."

"Go back to sleep," he said to her as he got out of bed.

Emma sighed and didn't bother to ask where he was going. Whatever was bothering him the nightmare had disturbed him so much that he needed to get out for a bit.


	7. In Memory Of

In Memory of:

**Neal Cassidy**

**SwanFire**

_A character who was gone way too quickly from our screens._

_He and Emma will never get their happy ending and it_

_is with great sadness that all of my SwanFire fanfics_

_have now entered into the realm of memorials and what ifs._

_Neal may be gone from our screens but he is not_

_gone from his fans and it is through our works_

_and our stories that he will continue to live on._

_We love you Neal!_

_We love you SwanFire!_


	8. This is Home

**Author's Note:**

1.) I apologize for the long wait in updating. School has been kicking my ass with a bunch of book reports and reading but now I've finally found the time to upload.

2.) I've never liked the apartment complex Mary Margaret lives in so for the sake of the story I have extended the area where the stairs are and it goes several feet to the right and there's an adjacent apartment to it.

* * *

**Chapter 7: This is Home**

* * *

The town of Storybrooke, after what seemed like over a decade finally seemed more alive. Gone was the grayish yellow tint that seemed to signal the banality and repetition of the days even though the town was essentially like every other small town in America.

"You know I don't like surprises," Emma said as Neal walked behind her, his hands covering her eyes.

"You'll like this one I promise," said Neal. "Okay last step and then we're going to walk to the right."

They walked a few feet and came to a stop. Emma could hear Neal fidget with what sounded like keys and then the sound of a doorknob. The number on the door read '3B'. Neal helped Emma step inside.

"Okay open," said Neal.

Emma did so and to her surprise she saw a kitchen to the left of door, a living room in the center, a bedroom to the right and a bathroom in between the living room and kitchen to the left. In the corner right between the living room and bedroom was a set of stairs which led to a second bedroom and bathroom.

"Now I know we haven't talked about finding our own place yet," said Neal, "and I haven't signed the lease so if you want to keep looking we can. I saw this place in the paper during my walk so I thought I'd check it out."

"What's upstairs."

"A second bedroom and bathroom."

"It's bigger than our apartment in New York."

"That's the idea. With little David we'll need the space." Neal turned and looked at Emma. "You never did tell me why you chose that name. I'm curious."

"I looked up the name Henry. It's Greek for leader." Emma wrapped her arms around Neal's waist. "We may not be anything special but I'd like to believe our kid will be."

"And David?"

"That one I don't know. Guess that's just a name that's been in the back of my head." She reached up and kissed Neal. "Sign the lease."

Neal smiled, "Welcome home. There is one other thing. There's a hospital in town. I made an appointment for you for today."

"Neal-,"

"I want to make sure you and the baby are taken care of."

"We don't even have jobs yet, no medical insurance."

"I've all ready talked to the hospital. It's covered."

"How?"

"The hospital gets a stipend for every pro bono case they take and since we're new in town and just getting on our feet they've offered to help."

"Wow guess I shouldn't worry about those restless nights you've been having if it gets you this productive." Neal let out a small laugh. "So you want to check out our new bed," Emma asked.

Neal didn't have to answer. Emma took the lead to their new bedroom. She didn't care if it was early in the day, the way Neal was taking care of her was suddenly a huge turn on and she was more than happy to take full advantage of the urge she had and Neal was more than ready to pleasure her and give her anything she needed.

* * *

By the time Emma woke up it was 3:30 PM. She walked into the kitchen and found a cup of hot chocolate, some crackers, and a note underneath it that read:

Lease signed. Off to search for a job. Doctor's appt. at 4. I'll meet you there.

Emma smiled at the note and placed a cracker in her mouth. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast so the salt was a more than satisfying feeling. She took a sip of the chocolate which was still warm indicating that Neal hadn't been gone long. She was grateful to have the next fifteen minutes to herself before her appointment.

By 3:45 Emma made her way out and as she was locking up the apartment she was a bit startled.

"Emma?"

Emma turned to the sound of the voice.

"Mary Margaret," Emma said in surprise. "You live here?"

"I do. I take it you do now too?"

Emma smiled, "Yeah Neal just signed the lease. What are the odds?"

Mary Margaret smiled, "Well it is a small town." Emma nodded. "You seem nervous."

"First doctor's appointment. Here in Storybrooke anyways."

"So you're going to the hospital?" Emma nodded again. "Mind if I walk with you? I usually volunteer there after school."

Emma let out a sigh of relief, appreciative that she wouldn't have to be going alone. Emma was used to the loneliness and though she had Neal in some odd way she was glad for having another woman to be with her.

"That would be great," Emma said.

Mary Margaret smiled glad to have the company for the first time since she could remember.

"Oh that reminds me, I have something for you."

Emma looked at her quizzically, "Me?"

Mary Margaret stepped into the apartment and then returned in less than a minute. She handed the book to Emma and on the title it read 'Once Upon a Time.'

"Fairytales," asked Emma.

The two women began making their way downstairs.

"I was cleaning out my closet yesterday when I found it. I guess I'd always overlooked it before but when I saw it something told me that you should have it for the baby."

"Thanks but aren't these a bit scary for the kid? I mean you've got evil queens, flying monkeys and frightening trolls."

Mary Margaret nodded. "So you're familiar with the stories."

"What kid isn't? At nearly every foster home I was at I sometimes had dreams that my parents were royalty and would take me back to their castle."

"I'm sorry I didn't know."

Emma shook her head. She hadn't expected Mary Margaret to know and much less she hadn't expected herself to be so open with her. The only person she had let know right off the bat was Neal.

Mary Margaret didn't want to push the subject so she changed it. "I'm sure you can always skip over the scary parts until your baby gets older. It's not just about the scary stories though. It's about good overcoming evil and having hope even when it feels like there is none."

"You sound pretty optimistic about that."

Mary Margaret smiled, "I guess I am."

"So you believe in that stuff, good beating evil, having hope?"

The two walked into the hospital as Mary Margaret answered and Emma signed in. "Absolutely: believing in even the possibility of hope is a very powerful thing."

The two walked toward the area where Mary Margaret was volunteering. At the end of the hallway was a single room with a patient lying on the bed.

"What happened to him?"

"Don't know. He's been there for as long as anyone can remember."

Emma looked at her watch. She had five minutes till her appointment so her idea would have to be held off till later.

"Emma," Mary Margaret said nodding. Emma turned around to see Neal walking their way.

"Hey," Emma said to him, "You showed."

"Of course I did. You didn't think I'd miss this did you?"

Neal nodded to Mary Margaret.

"Right," said Emma, "you two haven't officially met. Mary Margaret this is my boyfriend Neal Cassidy."

"Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet yesterday," said Neal.

"It's okay," Mary Margaret said. "You seemed pretty occupied."

Neal only nodded. He wasn't ready to get into anything that had occurred between him and his father last night.

"Turns out," said Emma, "Our apartment is right across the hall from hers."

"You're kidding," said Neal, "Well it is a small town I guess."

"Swan, Emma," an elderly nurse called out.

Mary Margaret smiled at the young couple. "Good luck," she said to them as they made their way to the appointment.

* * *

"Emma Swan," said the doctor. "I'm Dr. Whale. I'll be your doctor for your ongoing pregnancy and you must be the baby's father."

"Neal Cassidy," said Neal.

"Well it's a pleasure meeting you both. So Emma I understand you saw a doctor in New York." He checked over his paperwork. "I see here there's no indication of family history."

"No family to speak of," said Emma, "For either of us."

"Sorry to hear that. So is this your first?" The couple nodded. "Well congratulations. Since you're a new patient but are close to what I'm guessing is thirteen weeks is that right?"

Emma nodded. This was going on thirteen weeks now.

"We'll get you in a gown, do a routine workup and then we'll let you see your baby sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," said Emma.

"Great then I'll go get the nurse and she'll be in to draw up some blood and a couple other lab tests and then we'll bring in the ultrasound."

The appointment went as Dr. Whale said it would and brought the ultrasound in like he mentioned. Emma was laid back on the doctor's table, her legs bent.

"Now this might be a bit cold," said Dr. Whale as he raised Emma's gown to reveal her small but growing bump and lightly placed some jelly on her belly. He maneuvered the machine with such expertise and brought the screen within the parents view. He maneuvered the probe a little more and then everyone in the room heard the sound.

"That's your baby's heartbeat and there it is: that's your baby."

"I'll be damned," said Neal. "That's really inside you. It's amazing and you're beautiful."

Emma smiled as tears streamed down her face unable to speak.

"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl yet," Neal asked having no experience with this sort of thing despite his three hundred plus years of existence.

"That's too early to tell. We'll find that out by the eighteenth or twentieth week. I'll make three copies of this for you," Dr. Whale said taking a screencap of the image, "One for each of you and a third to give to a friend or something." Whale cleaned off Emma's stomach. "We'll make your next appointment fifteen weeks from when you're twenty-eight weeks along."

"Sounds good," Emma said her voice somewhat cracked.

Once Dr. Whale was out of the room Neal and Emma looked at each other and Neal leaned down to kiss his beautiful girlfriend.


	9. The Story Book

**Chapter 8: The Story Book**

* * *

"What's this," Neal asked as he picked up the book from the counter in the office as they were leaving, he had seen Emma place it down when they first came in.

"It's a book of fairytales. Mary Margaret gave it to me for the baby."

Neal flipped through some of the pages. He stopped when he saw a young brown haired boy standing against a fence post with a shepherd's stick. Neal turned white and swallowed hard, a look and action that didn't go unnoticed by Emma as they left the room.

She reached out and touched his arm, "Babe, they're just stories. They're not real."

Neal swallowed again. He closed the book, "Yeah Emma about that…"

But before Neal could say anything else Emma stopped when she saw Mary Margaret sitting by the coma patient's bedside at the end of the hall. She wasn't sure what it was about him but the compulsion she had earlier and had waved off suddenly came back in full force.

"Everything okay," Neal asked.

"Yeah. Could you um… could you give me a minute?"

Neal looked at the coma patient and Mary Margaret and then at Emma. She didn't have to explain anything to him.

Neal placed a kiss on Emma's forehead. "Take your time. I'll wait for you outside. We'll stop at Granny's on our way home. Do you think you can leave the book with me?"

Emma smiled, "Sure."

Emma handed the book to him grateful that Neal was giving her the time so she made her way to the coma patient's room. She closed the door after she entered.

"Still no change hu?"

Mary Margaret looked up and weakly smiled at Emma.

"None. I keep thinking that if I'm here long enough that he'll wake up soon and it sounds crazy because I don't even know him but I feel like I do somehow. I know it sounds crazy and makes me sound like a fool."

"Optimistic, not a fool," Emma said with a smile. "After all weren't you the one telling me not too long ago that the possibility of hope is a powerful thing?"

Mary Margaret smiled, "You don't strike me as the optimistic type. No offense."

Emma waved it off. "I'm not usually but for the first time in my life things seem to be looking up so-,"

"You sound like that's a bad thing."

Emma sighed. "Normally it is. I didn't exactly have the best upbringing. I don't know I guess I'm just worried that somehow this is too good to be true and that I'll somehow screw it up."

Emma couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. She had only met Mary Margaret yesterday and now she was talking to her as if they had known each other their whole lives.

"So no good role models?"

"None."

"Not even your parents?"

Emma took a deep breath. Though she had just told Mary Margaret a while back that she was an orphan no one knew the truth about her parents except for Neal. He knew her full history and not the Cliffnote's version that she told other people- when they found out she was an orphan she gave no further details but she wanted to tell Mary Margaret the truth, as if knowing would somehow make it better even though there was nothing that could.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

"No it's fine," said Emma. "They're not dead and even if they were I wouldn't know. They abandoned me on the side of the freeway when I was a baby."

"Emma, I'm so sorry."

"Why it's not your fault." Emma's eyes caught hold of something and she was thrust back into her mind. "On the side of the freeway," she whispered.

"What?"

"On the side of the freeway," Emma whispered again, "A few hours away from here. That's not possible. It can't be."

"Emma, what is it?"

"I'm sorry I have to go," Emma said going as fast as she could to get out of the building leaving Mary Margaret to wonder what had just happened.

* * *

At the same time while Emma was inside talking with Mary Margaret Neal leaned against the outside wall of the hospital with the book in hand. He sifted through some of the pages and came to a stop when he saw the image that he'd seen earlier. Neal swallowed hard. He hated that his story was in the book. He then skipped a few pages and came to the Snow White story. Near the end was an image of Snow holding a baby with the name 'Emma' embroidered on a blanket. Neal smiled. He had seen this baby blanket before. It was one Emma carried with her any place she went. It was the one thing she had from the place she had come from, the one thing that had made the journey with her.

"Reading up on your history and Miss Swan's I see," Gold said to Neal.

Neal slammed the book closed and held it up. "Was this your doing?"

"What the book?"

"Yes the book. Did you give the book to Mary Margaret so she could give to Emma?"

"My boy I'm good but I'm no writer. How is Miss Swan by the way? I understand she had her first doctor's appointment today."

"So you're spying on me now?"

"You're my son I have no reason to spy but you are standing out here, I assume waiting for her and it is a small town."

Before Neal could comment he heard the door to his right open. Emma walked a bit toward him.

"How did everything go with Mary Margaret and David," Neal asked.

"You were with me in the appointment," Emma said placing a hand on her belly, "David's fine."

Neal shook his head. He hadn't meant the baby and he'd forgotten that Emma didn't know the name of the coma patient in the bed that she had just come from visiting.

"Might I say Miss Swan," said Gold, "You are certainly glowing today."

"Um thanks," Emma said paying attention for the first time that Mr. Gold was there. Her mind was too preoccupied though as she turned her attention back to Neal. "We need to talk."

"Okay let's go to Granny's, we can talk there."

"No not there," said Emma.

"Then where and what about dinner?"

"Take it to go," Emma said harshly.

"What's going on with you," Neal asked suddenly concerned.

"I told you we need to talk and not here, not in Storybrooke."

"Then where?"


	10. I Want the Truth, All of It

**Chapter 9: I Want the Truth, All of It!**

* * *

"What the hell is this," Emma said when she parked the bug a couple hours out of Storybrooke in a parking lot.

"It looks like a diner," Neal said casually.

"We passed through here on our way to Storybrooke didn't we?"

"I thought you were asleep."

"I was but I opened my eyes for a second. I thought this was a dream."

"It's just a diner," Neal said trying to downplay it.

Emma angrily got out of the car and Neal followed. "You know it's not just a diner! I showed you my file once. Is this some kind of game, are you trying to mess with my head? Why are we here in Storybrooke? Why! I want the truth Neal."

"All right fine! Just not here okay?"

"Then where?"

Neal opened the car door and picked up the 'Once Upon a Time' book that had been on the floor near his feet. He then opened the hood of the car where the storage space was and grabbed a flashlight.

Wary of Emma's pregnancy, Neal cautiously helped Emma through the woods. Not far from the road they arrived in a mass grove of trees, one of which had a gigantic oval hole in it.

"I don't get it," said Emma, "It's just a tree."

Neal took a deep breath. He had planned on telling Emma everything but not like this. He had wanted more time to figure out just exactly how to tell her but given Emma's anger he was out of that time.

"It's not just any tree. It's your tree. It's the tree you came from."

"You're saying I was born from a tree or what my mom went into labor with me at this spot? Yeah, nice try. I want answers Neal."

"And I'm trying to give them to you." Neal shook his head. "I was afraid you wouldn't believe me."

"How can I you haven't told me anything yet."

Neal thought of a better idea. He handed the book to Emma. "I bookmarked your story. It's all in there."

Emma skeptically opened the book to where the bookmark was. The story was about the birth of a child. The text read that it was Snow White and Prince Charming but that couldn't be right. She had known the stories and no where did they ever mention that she had a kid. She then turned another page and on it was an image of a baby, the name Emma written on a blanket. Emma took a breath and continued scanning the pages where Prince Charming placed her in a tree-like wardrobe. She turned back to the page with her name on it.

"This… this has to be a coincidence."

"It's not Emma, just like it's not a coincidence that you and I are together."

Emma took a step back.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at the earlier pages. I'm in there too as a little boy."

Emma hesitantly did so.

"What the hell is all of this?"

"I'm not from around here Emma and neither are you. Us coming to Storybrooke, it wasn't an accident."

"Seriously Neal, what's going on?"

"You came into this world from that tree. Your father put you in there to protect you."

"And you expect me to believe that I'm the baby I the picture and that what I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"That's exactly who you are."

"This is insane."

"I know it is but its true Emma. You know me. You know I'm telling you the truth.

Emma wanted to forget this evening was happening. She wanted to not believe what Neal was telling her but she could find no fault in him as much as the words sounded crazy.

"Are you trying to push me away, is that what this is?"

"How can you even think that," Neal asked as he took a step toward Emma, "I love you."

"Do you? How do I know you're not making that up just like you're making up this entire thing," Emma asked, her voice cracking as tears started to flow. Damn hormones.

"I know it sounds crazy. Trust me I know but you know it's true."

"This is impossible," Emma said her voice coming down to a whisper.

Neal took a step toward her, "Impossible in this world but not in ours. In our world nothing is impossible." Neal reached out and took Emma's hands. "Emma, you have to trust me."

Emma let out a small smile amidst her tears. "I do and that's what scares me."

Neal released a hand and moved some of Emma's hair from her face. "I know it scares me too. I'm scared I'm going to lose you because of how rediculous this all sounds."

* * *

The two of them made their way back to the car. It was getting dark and cold and both had now gotten exhausted from the standing and from the arguing. They sat in silence for a moment until Emma was the first to open up.

"It's like I've always kind of known. Kind of like how Leia knew Luke was her brother in Return of the Jedi. I used to have those dreams about my parents being a prince and princess and whisking me away to their castle. I thought it was just typical foster kid stuff but it wasn't was it?"

"No."

Emma took a deep breath. "How long have you known who I was?"

"A few months. A friend of yours found me when I went to fence the watches."

"Who?"

"His name's August. It was his job to look after you but he failed. I don't know you might meet him later. I've spent my whole life running from my father and when August told me who you were and what you had to do I thought about running again."

"Whose your father?" Neal gave Emma a look and she suddenly knew. "Mr. Gold?"

"Actually his real name is Rumpelstiltskin."

Emma had heard the story: the dwarf who spun straw into gold.

"That was why you were arguing with him last night. If you didn't want to find him why did you not run? Why did you stay?"

"Because of you," he said with a soft smile. "My parents were cowards Emma. My mom left when I was a kid and my father chose magic over me. I wasn't going to do that to you. If seeing my father was the price I had to pay in getting you home then I was willing to pay it."

"What do you mean getting me home?" Neal remained silent. "What's the real reason why we came to Storybrooke?"

Neal took a deep breath. Now the hard part. "There's a curse and it needs to be broken," he said using the words August had months ago. "Storybrooke is that cures. The Evil Queen sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here. No magic, no happy endings. You are the key to breaking it."

"Why me?"

"My father placed a little insurance policy on the curse: you. And since your parents sent you away to escape it you're the only one who can break it."

"This is a lot to take in."

"I know."

All of this talk about her parents, Snow White and Prince Charming, it was all starting to make sense in its own way.

"Mary Margaret: she's my mom isn't she? That's why we were so easy at connecting before. I don't have the physical memory but I could somehow sense it." Emma looked over at Neal. "And my dad, he's that coma patient isn't he? That was why I was drawn to him earlier?"

Neal nodded. "David. It's not a coincidence that his name was in the back of your head. Better we name our kid after your father than mine," he said with a slight laugh.

Emma smiled at that comment but she couldn't think about little David right now. "Why would I remember his name and not Mary Margaret's?"

"I don't know. The only possibility I can think of is that you had more time with him than you did with your mom since you father took you after you were born to the nursery where the wardrobe was. Your mom was still resting up after having had you."

The two sat in silence for a while, Neal allowing Emma the time for all of this to sink in.

"Hey, Neal said taking her hand after a few minutes, "You don't have to do this alone. I'm not going anywhere."

"Good."

"You still don't believe this do you?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't know what to believe. I want to believe it I do. To finally have found my parents- that's the dream for any foster kid but I grew up in this world. I wasn't taught to believe in the literal truth of fairytales." Emma looked at their entwined hands. She then looked up at Neal and smiled. "But I do believe in you so if you believe then I can live with that but I can't live without you."

"I'll take it," Neal said smiling.

The two leaned in, kissing deeply.

"You should get some sleep. I'll drive."


	11. David

**Chapter 10: David**

* * *

A few hours later Emma and Neal arrived back in Storybrooke. Emma had woken up just as they reached the town line. Something was different though.

"What's going on," Emma asked as they saw a sheriff's car, an ambulance, and fire truck at Storybrooke General Hospital.

"I don't know," Neal said as he pulled off.

The two of them got out of the car and began walking toward the hospital. Once inside Mary Margaret was sitting in the waiting room, her face in her hands.

"Mary Margaret," said Emma, "What's going on?"

Mary Margaret looked up, grateful to see her new friend. "Emma thank god. He woke up. After you left he woke up."

"Who David?"

Mary Margaret looked at Emma wondering how she knew the name of the patient but she dismissed that curiosity. "The doctors came in routinely after he was awake. I took a break ten minutes ago and by then he was gone. I feel like this is all my fault. I was the one watching him."

"We'll find him Mary Margaret," said Sheriff Graham as he came over to the three of them. "He couldn't have gotten far."

"Have you checked the surveillance footage," Emma asked.

"I'm sorry who are you," asked Graham.

"Emma Swan."

Neal took a step forward not liking the look Graham was giving her. "Neal Cassidy, the fiancé."

Emma rolled her eyes at the short pissing contest.

"The surveillance," she said getting Graham back on track.

"Right. With all due respect Miss Swan it's best you probably stay out of this and let the authorities handle it."

"I'm finding him either way."

Graham sighed. There was no getting rid of this woman it seemed. "Fine but don't get in our way."

The four of them went to the backroom where the surveillance cameras were. On it they saw David leave through a backdoor.

"Where does that door lead," Emma asked.

"The woods," Leroy stated fearfully.

"Then let's go."

Neal placed a hand on Emma's just as she was about to open the door.

"Emma think about this," he said to her. "Think about the baby."

"Neal he's my fath…" Emma couldn't believe she had nearly said that word out loud. "I can't sit around at home while David is out there. We came to this town for a reason, remember? Do you really expect me to sit by on this?"

"That's exactly what I expect."

"Neal!"

"It all ready worried me enough that I walked you through the woods earlier but this time is different. It's darker and the search team will have to go deeper in to find him if it comes down to it."

"Afraid I'll end up slowing everyone down." Neal didn't know what to do his words had caught him in a trap but Emma continued to bait him, "Just say it."

Neal bit the inside of his lip but Emma was waiting, "Well you are pregnant."

Graham glanced over at Emma noticing the round bump over her abdomen. He didn't know but then when he met her he hadn't been paying much attention.

"I know that," said Emma.

Neal took Emma's hands, "Honey, all I'm saying is it would be different if you weren't showing but you are."

"Your fiancé is right," said Graham feeling uncomfortable with the word. He wasn't sure why this bothered him so much. "You will just slow us down.

"Emma, please think about the baby. I'll go out with them."

Emma sighed. All ready she was starting to hate the limits her pregnancy was putting on her even though the kid wasn't directly at fault.

"I'll stay with her," said Mary Margaret.

Neal smiled, "See you won't be alone."

"Fine," Emma conceded.

* * *

Emma hated waiting around at the apartment. Though it was nice to have Mary Margaret she was just as on edge, still blaming herself even though David had never been officially her responsibility.

"You didn't have to babysit me you know," Emma said as the two of them sat in the living room both with a cup of hot cocoa and cinnamon.

"That's not what I'm doing."

"No it is," Emma then smiled, "but I appreciate it, sort of."

"Neal's just worried about you and the baby. All ready he's being an overprotective father."

Emma smiled, "Yeah I k now and he's right to have someone keep an eye on me. He knows me well enough to know that I'd go off on my own and god forbid if something did happen I'd rally be in trouble." Emma took a deep breath. "They'll find him right?"

Mary Margaret got up from the opposite couch and moved to the seat next to Emma. She reached over and took Emma's hand. As concerned as she was for the patient she had been caring for she could not dismiss Emma's concern. Mary Margaret wasn't sure what was going on but her own worry, though equally as important, suddenly seemed minor compared to the emotions Emma was feeling, almost like a mother comforting a child in a time of distress though Mary Margaret wasn't a mother unless you counted looking after a group of third graders for most of the day but even they went to their own homes at the end of it.

"I don't know," Mary Margaret said placing the young woman's head on her shoulder. "I sure hope so."

"They have to. I just wish we knew he was going."

And then it hit her like a bolt of lightning. Emma had placed the story book on the kitchen counter when they got home. She knew the idea sounded foolish but at this point she was willing to try anything if it meant finding David. She got up and started flipping through the book, Mary Margaret simply thinking that the fairytales would help calm her friends' nerves.

Emma came to the story of how Snow White and Prince Charming met and then came to the part about the trolls on the bridge.

"Are there any bridges around here," Emma asked suddenly in full bail bond's person mode.

""yeah," Mary Margaret said coming over to Emma. "There's one out near the west side of the woods heading toward the town line why?"

Emma left the book open to the page of the bridge. She grabbed her leather red jacket that she had gotten with her first paycheck as a bail bond's person. She made a note to look for more leather jackets for her growing belly when the time came for it but for now this one was perfect. She then grabbed her keys.

"I think I know where he's going."

Mary Margaret followed Emma out of the apartment.

* * *

As they made their way to the toll bridge Emma had told Mary Margaret to keep an eye out through the headlights. She did so and as Emma turned into a pull off near the bottom of the bridge the two women got some flashlights that were in the car and began scanning the area.

"There!" Mary Margaret said her light catching the glimmer of something blue near the water.

"There's more blood over here," they could hear Graham call out.

"Neal!" Emma called in the direction upon seeing the other search lights.

"Emma!" Neal called emerging from the woods.

He saw Mary Margaret trying to help David and went to help her.

"Grab his arms," Neal said taking hold of David's legs.

The two hoisted David and brought him to a higher mound away from the water. Emma wanted to help somehow but there really was nothing she could do.

"We need paramedics over by the old Toll Bridge," Graham said into his walkie.

"Neal?" Emma asked as she placed her hands on her belly as if to shield her unseeing child from the intensity of the situation.

Neal came over and wrapped an arm around Emma as Mary Margaret worked to revive David using CPR.

"You're crazy for coming out here you know that right?" Neal asked somewhat in a teasing manner.

"We found him didn't we?" She looked at Mary Margaret. "Anything?"

Mary Margaret didn't answer, focusing only at the task at hand.

"Come on!" she said continuing CPR. "I've been looking after you. Don't die on me please David, please." Mary Margaret placed her lips on David breathing life back into him.

After two seconds David began choking and woke up. He looked at Mary Margaret. He had never seen anyone more beautiful in all the times he could have remembered.

"You found me," he said hoarsely.

Mary Margaret smiled at him. "Yeah, I guess I did."

* * *

When Dr. Whale came into the room the trio of friends stood up.

"How is he," Mary Margaret asked.

"He's suffered some mild hypothermia from the water and a few cuts and bruises but other than that he should be okay. To be honest I doubt he would have lasted the night so it's lucky you found him when you did."

"Who is he?" asked Emma.

"No one dear," a woman said behind Emma and Neal.

"Mayor Mills," Mary Margaret said nodding to the woman.

"So," said Regina, "You're Miss Swan," she said sizing her up.

So this was the Savior Regina thought. She was not at all what she was expecting. She had expected someone older looking and certainly not a pregnant teenager.

Emma remained silent. It was a very small town so of course the mayor would notice when someone new came into town.

"You know him," Emma asked.

"I've seen him around. Poor guy, he spends most of his time camping in the woods, a recluse mostly. I found him one evening on my way home from the office. His truck had run off the road near the town line. I saw that he was slumped over so I brought him in."

"And he has no family," Mary Margaret asked.

"None," Regina replied with a smile.

Emma gave Regina the once over too. "So you just brought him in like that. Didn't bother checking in on him?"

"He's a stray dog Miss Swan and given the fact that he was in an undetermined length vegetative state I was not about to make him my problem."

"So why are you here now?"

"I had heard that he had woken up and then gotten lost again so I wanted to make sure he was okay."

"Convenient."

"Excuse me? Is that really so hard to believe?"

"Yeah it is."

Neal took a step between the two women. "Okay I think we've all had a long night. Babe, what do you say we turn in?"

Emma looked at Dr. Whale. "Call us if anything changes."

Regina looked at Emma suddenly confused, "Why would he call you?"

Emma smiled at Regina, "Because Madam Mayor, Mary Margaret and I are now David's emergency contacts. Dr. Whale and Sheriff Graham here approved it given the fact that he was basically a John Doe."

Regina looked at Graham, "You did what!"

"It's all perfectly legal," said Graham.

Emma continued to smile, "And who better than the people who found him and are actually willing to stick around? Goodnight Mayor Mills."

When she and Neal were a safe distance away Emma whispered, "Who the hell was that?"

Neal whispered back, "That would be your step-grandmother."

Emma thought to the Snow White story. Her voice raised her a little, "The Evil Queen is my step-grandmother?"

"Could be worse, you could have the Dark One as your father though you might get him as your father-in-law. Sorry about that."


	12. The Plans Now

**Chapter 11. The Plans Now**

* * *

"What time is it," Emma asked when she emerged from the bedroom after a very restful night's sleep, seeing Neal in the kitchen.

"Almost one," Neal replied.

"Seriously, you let me sleep that long?"

"You needed it," Neal said with a smile.

"Something smells good."

"Waffles, toast with jelly and orange juice."

"Got any Fruit Loops?"

"I go all out and you want Fruit Loops?"

"Not me the baby."

"So he's developing your sweet tooth isn't it?"

Emma smiled, "And Neal-,"

Neal placed the cup in front of Emma, "Hot cocoa with cinnamon. Are you ever going to tell me where you picked up that habit? I know you said you've had it for as long as you can remember but I'm curious."

"Well since you do believe in my family," Emma said swiping a finger across the whipped cream and placing it in her mouth, "I saw Mary Margaret have it exactly the same way so I probably got it from her."

"Nice," Neal said with a nod. "So does that mean there's gonna be a third generation of that."

Emma took another swipe of the whipped cream, "Most likely," she said with a coy smile.

Neal smiled and got Emma her Fruit Loops which Emma graciously dug into.

"I was thinking about heading down to the hospital later to check on David."

"That will be good. You never did tell me how you found him."

Emma popped in one of the O's that hadn't yet touched the milk enjoying the sweetness of it, put down her spoon and swallowed. "You want an honest answer?"

Now Neal was really intrigued. He placed his hands on the counter and looked at Emma, "Please."

Emma left for the bedroom and returned with the story book. She had read her birth story before closing her eyes for the night.

Emma placed the book on the counter and looked until she came to the spot she wanted. She pointed.

"It was in the story," she said to him.

Neal looked at the page and saw Snow White facing some ugly trolls.

"I thought you didn't believe."

Emma shrugged, "Yeah well I probably don't but you do and it's a better fairytale than the ones I've concocted for myself over the years so I figured what the hell I might as well try anything."

Neal smiled, "And it led you right to him. So do you believe now?"

Emma leaned forward, "I believe that I have some weird connection to David and Mary Margaret. As to whether or not I'm actually their kid that's a bit weird for me considering what there's a ten year age gap?"

"Could be worse."

"How?"

"My father could have made it so that you would have broken the curse on your twenty-eight birthday instead of your eighteenth. Then you, David, and Mary Margaret would all be the same age."

Emma had nothing to say, that thought was too disturbing and even weirder than her being eighteen and them twenty-eight.

"On that note," said Emma, "I'm going to go get ready and take a shower."

"Oh want my help with that one? I could lather your hair among other things."

Emma glanced over at Neal with a coy smile, "I was hoping you'd suggest that."

* * *

"Miss Swan," Graham said as he passed Emma in the hall.

"Sheriff."

"Here to check on David?"

"I am."

"Well I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday."

"I can't take the credit, Mary Margaret was the one who did most of the hard work."

"Still what you did was pretty incredible yourself. Listen how would you like a job? I could use you as a deputy."

"You do know that I'm pregnant right? I really won't be able to help that much."

"That won't be a problem. You do what you can for now, take your maternity leave, and then you're back on the job after that. I can hire both you and Neal as deputies. It would be nice to have the added hands around. It's got medical insurance so all of your prenatal is covered. It's got dental." Graham pulled out a card and handed it to Emma. "Think about it," he said to her. "I'll hand Neal a card too when I see him."

"Thanks."

* * *

Mary Margaret looked up when Emma opened the door to David's room.

"Glad to see you awake," Emma said to David.

"Thanks," replied David. "You're Emma right? Mary Margaret told me you had a hand in finding me. Thank you."

"I just drove the car," Emma said not wanting to take any credit.

"You did more than that," said Mary Margaret, "You knew exactly where to find him. How did you know that's where he would be?"

"Finding people is what I do," said Emma not elaborating that of all places she got the idea from a book.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way," said David, "but I can't shake the feeling like I've seen you before."

Emma smiled a little, "I was thinking the same thing."

Mary Margaret looked at Emma and David. She couldn't exactly describe the feeling she was having. It wasn't jealousy but something else, a sense of pride and joy at seeing two strangers connecting.

"The doctor's say David should be getting out of here later tonight," said Mary Margaret.

"That's great, any idea what your next plans are gonna be?"

"You mean since apparently I camp out in the woods," David said making a joke. He looked at Mary Margaret. "We've actually been talking about that."

"I've offered to let David stay with me," said Mary Margaret. "I am the most qualified since I've been his only visitor for who knows how long."

"Really," Emma said not being able to contain her surprise.

"Just at least until he gets back on his feet and I do have a spare room," said Mary Margaret.

"Congratulations by the way," David said nodding to Emma's belly.

She placed her hand over it. "Thanks."

"How far along?"

"Thirteen weeks."

"So you've still got a ways to go. I'm sure it's gonna be great."

David smiled. He wasn't sure why he was drawn to Emma just like he couldn't understand why he was drawn to Mary Margaret but with her it was attractiveness and with Emma it was something else. There was something about seeing Emma and seeing her pregnant that brought a sense of pride really, pride for which made no sense.

"Do you have any names picked out?" David asked confused by his interest.

Emma blushed a little bit. She and Neal hadn't told anyone their baby names but she felt compelled to tell them.

"They can't be that bad," said Mary Margaret.

"No they're not bad," said Emma, "If it's a girl Eva Ruth."

"That's pretty," said Mary Margaret. "And if it's a boy?"

"If it's a boy we're giving him the middle name Henry and his first name will be named after my dad, David."

"Your dad's name was David," David asked.

Emma only nodded.

Mary Margaret was confused now, "But I thought you didn't know who your parents were?"

"Well I don't, not really. I've just come across his name recently."

"That's great!" said Mary Margaret, "And your mom?"

Emma took a breath, "I'm still working on that one."

* * *

Around the evening Emma made sure to be there when David was discharged. He was still a bit weak in his legs so the hospital had given him a cane, temporarily until he got his strength back.

As they reached the top of the stairs Neal was coming out of his and Emma's apartment and looked a bit confused.

Emma was quick to answer, "David's staying with Mary Margaret until he can get back on his feet."

Neal smiled, "Really, that's great, can't think of anyone better."

Emma raised her eyes giving Neal a teasingly back-off kind of look and Neal only smiled more. Emma turned her facial expressions back to a regular state.

"David this is my boyfriend Neal."

Neal reached out and shook David's hand, "Boyfriend slash fiancé. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Finally?"

Emma looked at Neal and subtly shook her head.

"I just meant it's nice to finally meet you in the sense that you're up walking around."

David smiled, "Well it's nice to be up on two legs again."

"Babe, we should probably get going," said Neal.

"Right."

"Where are you two off to?" Mary Margaret asked.

"We both got offered a job by the Sheriff's Department," said Emma.

"Who ever knew people like us would be caught on the right side of the law for a change," said Neal.

No one said anything to that comment instead opting for their 'see you later's.'

* * *

"I'm so glad you both decided to take me up on my offer," Graham said to Emma and Neal when they were in his office.

"Just so we're clear," said Neal, "You really want people like us? No offense but we aren't exactly model citizens, at least we weren't before Emma got pregnant."

Graham nodded, "I know all about your past Mr. Cassidy, a friend of yours actually gave me your references and some background."

"Let me guess," said Neal, "August."

Graham looked down at some files, "August Booth that's right."

Neal bit his lip and nodded.

"Okay when am I gonna meet this guy," asked Emma, "he seems like he likes to meddle in our lives and I can't understand why."

Neal just shook his head. He didn't really have an answer instead he said to Graham, "Yeah but people like us-,"

"You're more than just your past Mr. Cassidy. You worked for social services and you Miss Swan were a bail bonds man."

"Bail bonds person," Emma corrected.

"The point is you've both had jobs that make you qualified for this one and your pasts qualify you even more because you understand those worlds, you know have street smarts and trust me those are valuable assets. It's always just been me working here for as long as I can remember and that's been fine but it would be nice to have a few extra sets of hands around here in case things do start to get out of control. I doubt they will since this is a small town but you never know. So what do you say?"

Emma looked at the uniforms that Graham had on his desk.

"I am not going to be wearing that," said Emma.

"And um, you think you can get people to do what you want wearing that red coat?" Graham asked.

Neal smiled, "Trust me buddy, she can get you to do just about anything no matter what she wears but the leather jackets, way more her superhero cape than anything else so yeah she can." Neal looked at Graham, "Where do we sign the paper work."

"It's all ready taken care of," he said. He pulled out two badges from his desk.

Neal took his and clipped it to his belt.

Emma looked at it with a bit of discomfort, "Seriously?"

"Hey, you want to be a part of this community officially you got to have the credentials."

Emma reluctantly took the badge and the second she clipped the badge to her belt the entire office shook and the lights flickered, some of the lights shining on Emma only.

"What the hell was that?"

"Guess you getting a job does make our living here official," said Neal.

Emma looked at him a bit worried. Though she was still a skeptical believer she couldn't help but think now that Neal was right about whom she was and how she was some kind of savior. Part of that scared her but there was another part, the part that had come to know David and Mary Margaret in which she felt safe and finally felt like she had a home because if what all of Neal was saying was true that truly had meant that she had found her parents, a journey she never thought she could imagine finding.


	13. Baby Bump

**Chapter 12: Baby Bump**

* * *

"I feel like a whale," Emma said as she turned her body side to side looking at it in the mirror behind the bedroom door.

She was wearing some maternity jeans and a bra leaving her belly bare.

Neal came up behind her, resting a hand on her tired back and his right hand over her belly.

"A very attractive whale," Neal said.

"I'm serious how can you even find this appealing?"

Emma continued to look at her body. Her breasts and belly had grown quickly in the past five weeks. She was now in her eighteenth week.

It was only yesterday that she had felt the baby kick for the first time. Neal was out in the field working on a case which was something Emma couldn't do when she had reached her seventeenth week as her growing belly was starting to slow her down so she was confined to office work and answering phones.

Mary Margaret and David had taken Emma out to lunch thinking it was probably a good idea to get her out of the office for a bit.

Before they had even ordered Emma had felt a strange flutter in her belly, soft at first and then slightly stronger. It was a strange feeling that she hadn't yet experienced.

Mary Margaret was quick to Emma's side. "Emma what is it?"

"I think it's the baby," said Emma, "He's kicking," she said with a smile.

Without even pausing to think about what she was doing Emma reached for Mary Margaret's hand and placed it on the spot where the baby was moving.

"Do you feel that?"

Mary Margaret smiled at Emma, "That's amazing."

Emma looked over at David, "Want to feel?"

David's eyes widened a little, "You sure you want me to?"

"You've held my hair on several occasions during some of the morning sickness, I'm pretty sure letting you touch the baby bump isn't that far of a leap."

David got up from his seat and crouched down placing a hand on the belly, feeling the fluttering from the outside while Emma felt it from within.

"Wow," David said smiling first at Mary Margaret and then at Emma.

It was strange at how things seemed to be progressing, how in an odd way the three of them were becoming a family. About a week after David got out of the hospital and moved in with Mary Margaret he had asked her out on a date and they'd been together ever since even when circumstances it seemed tried to pull them apart, what they had was stronger much like Emma's bond with Neal.

And it had been within these past few weeks that the closer Emma got to them the more she believed that Neal was right about everything, who she was, where they were from, the magic of all things.

Neal had come up with a theory in bed one night believing that there could be only two possible theories.

The first was that maybe the baby within Emma had more magic in him than they thought and so as the baby grew so did Emma's relationship to David and Mary Margaret as they all shared a biological connection. With that theory in mind Emma wondered why that wasn't the case whenever Gold was around since the baby did have Neal's genetics too. Neal figured that the baby had a way of sensing darkness and that because Emma was the product of true love and the savior that the baby had more good in him than the darkness that weighed heavily on Neal's family.

The second theory was that the longer they stayed in Storybrooke, the longer Emma was around, the more the people of the town no longer acted with the opposite personalities of their cursed selves that they were given in this world without magic but instead acted with the personalities they had before the curse.

Both seemed like very good theories but it was hard to determine which was the most likely.

Emma was taken out of her thoughts as she felt the baby move and felt the sensation of Neal caressing her skin where the baby had kicked.

"I find it appealing because it's true," said Neal.

He got in front of Emma and kneeled down cupping her under belly in his hands as if to cradle the unborn life nestled within her womb.

"This right here is real magic," he said to her. "I sometimes think people take this kind of thing for granted but with people like us, how can we not take advantage of how precious it is?"

"I'm only gonna get fatter," Emma complained.

Neal kissed Emma's belly and then stood up to face her. "I don't care."

"You're becoming a sap," Emma teased.

Neal leaned over and placed a kiss on his girlfriend's forehead.

"Yeah well the pregnancy changes your physical appearance and it changes me on the inside. You sure you don't need me today?"

"No Graham needs you at the office. Mary Margaret offered to come with me."

"Okay love you." Neal ran his left fingers over Emma's belly as if to tickle the fetus within. "Love you buddy."

"We love you too," Emma said speaking for herself and their baby.

Once Neal was gone Emma took the time to look at her bare belly again. As uncomfortable as it made her feel, as much as her back hurt and the pregnancy symptoms were bound to get worse from leg cramps, swollen feet, among other discomforting bodily changes, she had done the research, had been reading the pregnancy books, she had to admit that Neal was right about one thing: it was magical. No matter what magic may exist nothing could compare to how two invisible microorganism sex cells could come together, fertilize, set up a home in the uterus and within a matter of ten months, as most pregnancies could last up to forty weeks or a bit longer, create another human being.

Emma smiled in spite of herself and cradled her baby bump and whispered, "You're worth it," and then got ready for her day and her afternoon doctor's appointment.

* * *

_Author's Note: I have no experience with babies or pregnancy. I'm just doing research so if I get some of the details correct then great if not then oh well like I said I don't know these things so the only thing I can go on is research._


	14. A Sheriff's Heart

**Chapter 13: A Sheriff's Heart**

* * *

The door to the pawn shop opened with intensity as Regina made her way to the counter gold was standing behind.

"It's being reversed and I want to know why!"

"Why whatever do you mean," asked Gold.

"You know exactly what I mean Rumple. Everyone's cursed selves are fading while the people they were before are more prominent. I want to know why!"

"If you don't know you're a worse student than I thought."

"It's because of them! Who the hell are they?"

"You've seen the interactions around here, take a guess."

Regina thought back for a moment and her eyes widened in fear. "No- it's her!"

Gold smiled. "Kind of ironic isn't it. Not too longer ago you came to me asking for me to get you the thing you wanted most."

"And then you rescinded that offer and you never explained your reason behind it," Regina said, her distain for him and again thought, "but that's because you knew whose baby you wanted to get didn't you?"

"Aye yes but then it seemed fate had other plans. They came here instead so that child you wanted won't be happening not while I have anything to say about it."

Regina laughed, "Why would you have a say in any of that? I could very well take the child for myself."

"You'd be willing to share custody with the savior? Doubt it. And you see Regina there is no way I would let you get near that infant," Gold said as he leaned in, "You see that child Miss Swan happens to be carrying is my grandson."

Regina backed up, "That's not… that's not possible."

"Oh but it is. Fate is a very funny thing. I can predict a lot of things but I certainly never predicted that so if you go near Miss Swan, my son, or my grandson I promise you will have me to answer to. Have a nice day dearie."

* * *

"I want them fired!" Regina said storming into Graham's office at the sheriff's station.

"Who," asked Graham.

"Who do you think: Betty and Barney. So help me if you don't get rid of them now, you won't like the next place you're going."

"So let me get this straight: you're threatening me if I don't get rid of Emma and Neal? Good luck with that."

"You think this is a joke?"

"Kind of, yes," Graham answered, "Do you even realize the good they've done since they got here? Emma helped find our John Doe, Neal got Mr. Gold to reconsider taking Ashley's baby, they found the father to a set of twins who were stealing just to get by, and they've been helpful in a number of other cases."

Graham got up from his desk and walked to the file cabinet to put some files away.

"I'm not going to fire two of my best hands based on your say so."

Regina walked closer and placed a hand on Graham's back rubbing it softly. "You're not thinking clearly."

Graham pulled away from Regina, "On the contrary I've never seen things more clearly."

Regina backed off angry that he had pulled away. "She's changing you just like she's changing ever other god damned person in this town."

"It's not her."

"Really, I think it is." Regina laughed, "She's never gonna want you. She's engaged, she's pregnant for crying out loud!"

"It's not like that!"

"Then tell me sheriff what is it like? Does she make you see the light or are you one of those sick perv's who gets off on only pregnant women when you're incapable of planting the seed yourself?"

"Why are you so threatened by her?"

"Ha please you think I'm threatened by that teenage breeder?"

"I know that you are otherwise you would just mind your own business and stay out of hers."

Regina took a step forward, "Fire them."

"Not gonna happen. Either I go or Emma and Neal stay."

Regina backed off and nodded, "Fine if that's how you want to lay it then I guess they're gonna stay. It was nice knowing you sheriff. I'll send a recommendation to Boston PD."

"I'm not going to Boston."

"Oh yes you are. I'm having you transferred effective immediately. Have a nice day sheriff."

* * *

As Emma and Neal were coming downstairs from their monthly appointment later that evening they could hear and see the commotion on the first floor.

"Out of the way, out of the way," people were shouting.

A gurney was being rolled in and on it was Sheriff Graham. Dr. Phil Morris, also known as Dr. Joshua Sweet from Atlantis was handling the case as Dr. Whale continued to be involved as Emma's OBGYN.

"Graham, Graham!" Emma called out.

"I need you to please step back Deputy Swan and let us do our jobs," said Dr. Morris taking Graham into the ER trauma room.

"What happened," Neal asked one of the nurses.

The nurse, though rushed, stopped to answer his question. "Car accident near the town line," she answered, "Must have run off the side of the road, fallen into an embankment. I'm sorry I have to get back."

Neal nodded.

Neal turned to Emma, "I'm gonna go check out the scene. I'd invite you to come but-,"

"It might not be safe for me or the baby?" Emma answered.

"Sorry," Neal said genuinely.

"No it's fine go. I'll stay here and wait for an update on Graham's condition."

"I'll call you if I find anything. If you don't hear from me, I'm either working on scene or at the office."

Emma nodded and kissed Emma on the lips before leaving.

With him gone Emma took a seat in the waiting area. She folded her hands over her twenty-five week baby belly.

The waiting seemed to go on for a long while. Graham had been given the works: everything from x-rays to an MRI and head CT. In that time Neal had been the one to call David and Mary Margaret who now sat with Emma s they waited.

Graham was then taken in for surgery.

After several hours Dr. Morris headed to Emma's direction and Emma cautiously stood. David and Mary Margaret stood as well.

"Deputy Swan," he said acknowledging her, "I'm sorry I wish I had better news."

Emma swallowed, "Just tell me, how bad?"

"Sheriff Graham came in with a fractured leg, a few broken ribs and a punctured lung. Upon impact he also suffered a traumatic brain bleed. There was some heavy swelling and we went in to reduce it as much as we could but I'm afraid he's still in critical condition.

This was a bit too overwhelming for Emma to handle. "How critical?" she asked.

"He's in a coma. We're not sure how long it will last. Could be a couple of days, could be months, truth is we just don't know. I am sorry."

Emma nodded not being able to find her voice.

"Thank you doctor," Mary Margaret said for her young friend.

Emma seemed to shrink in the background as she took a seat.

"Emma," said David taking a seat next to her.

Mary Margaret did the same, "We are so sorry."

"We were just joking this morning," said Emma. "Neal and I were telling him how we wanted him to be David Henry's godfather," she said having found out the sex of their baby weeks ago, "He was praising Neal for being involved in the pregnancy and said that if he ever had a kid of his own how he hoped to be the kind of father that Neal was turning out to be."

David had taken Emma's left hand and Mary Margaret had taken Emma's right hand, neither of them knew what to say and there was nothing to say.

The entrance doors opened and the three of them turned to see Neal rushing in. Emma stood and walked over to him, hugging him tightly. Both, though Graham was albeit alive in a sense, had lost their boss; deputies without a leader. At least his heart was still beating on its own but with the punctured lung Graham had needed a tube to help him breathe and there was still the matter of what the brain injury had done. There was just no telling how long Graham would in a sense be in a vegetative state.

* * *

_Author's Note: I am no doctor. I tried to do some research but came up empty so I appologize if I'm off on the injuries or the medical case._


	15. Accepting Fate

_Author's Note: _

_I am deeply sorry for the long wait!_

_School has been a pain in my ass lately as the semester is coming to a near. I've had papers and research like crazy so I haven't had the time._

_I hope this lenghthy chapter will more than make up for it and hopefully there won't be a long wait between this one and the next one._

* * *

**Chapter 14: Accepting Fate**

* * *

"Hey," Neal said coming to Emma in the living room later in the evening.

She was sitting down reading the 1990's edition of "What to Expect When You're Expecting". A cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon was on the table beside her.

It had been three days since Graham's accident and still there had been no change in his condition.

In that short amount of time Neal had been appointed interim Sheriff. Neal had tried to decline it thinking the job should rightfully belong to Emma but for her it was no big deal. The town deserved someone who was more flexible and swifter on their feet. Though it was at those times when Emma missed the skinny frame she had prior to her pregnancy. This new body came with limitations when it came to movement and there was still between twelve and fifteen weeks to go so the limitations would only continue to get worse.

Still though, she never failed to see the magic in the changes of her body as uncomfortable as most of them were. The baby was as healthy could be for twenty five weeks and three days.

Neal took a seat on the ottoman across from Emma. He tapped his knees and Emma switched her legs from her position on the couch to his legs. Neal gently rubbed her legs and massaged her feet.

As he did this Emma put aside her book and ran circles over her belly.

"So what's in the bag?"

Neal stopped what he was doing and leaned to his left where he had placed a bag beside him after coming over. Out of the large bag he pulled out a medium sized one.

"This was in a storage closet at the station. Graham was going to give it to you next week before your baby shower, you know since it's a no boy's allowed thing."

Emma took a deep breath and then took the bag from Neal. She reached inside and there were two items. The first was a white stuffed wolf animal and the other was slightly more delicate, a hand wooden carving also of a wolf.

"They'll be perfect in Henry's forest nursery," Neal said with a smile.

"The guide," Emma said with a small smile, "the silent protector."

Emma's thoughts began to race. None of this was fair. Of all people why would Graham have tried to cross the town line? He had known that accidents frequently occurred there and yet he'd gone anyways. And that was another weird thing: Graham had never expressed any interest in leaving Storybrooke. There was no suicide note, not a word to anyone, he just up and left as if trying to disappear. It made no sense. Emma's eyes focused thinking there was one thing in all of this that did add up.

Determined and with a new sense of resolve.

"I know that look," Neal said, as Emma struggled a little bit to put on her socks and shoes, another thing that would only get worse. With that task complete, Emma made her way to the coat rack. She put on her latest red leather jacket that fit her current form.

"Where are you going," Neal asked.

"To talk to one of two people besides us who knows what the hell is going on around here."

"Emma they haven't been open about the curse, what makes you think they'll say anything?"

"Neither of them may not talk about the curse but both of them basically run this town so they know practically everything."

"Emma this is a bad idea!"

"Babe, I love you but our boss, our friend, got put in the hospital with no time limit on when or if he'll ever wake up. I can't just sit back on this, that's not the woman you fell in love with as hard as I've tried."

"I'm not trying to change you Emma. I knew the kind of girl you where when I first met you." Neal walked over and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "I appreciate you trying at least for the baby."

"But you know I have to do this right?"

"Then at least let me come with you as back up."

"It's better if I do this alone."

Neal sighed knowing there was no way to change her mind.

"Fine but please be careful," he said placing a kiss on her lips.

"Promise."

* * *

"Miss Swan," Regina said not looking up from her desk, "To what do I owe this unfortunate pleasure?"

"Graham," said Emma.

"Yes, what about him?"

"His accident, did you have anything to do with it?"

Regina stopped focusing on her paperwork and turned her eyes on Emma.

"Are you actually accusing me of causing his accident? It was exactly that, an accident. If anyone caused it, it was him."

"I just find the timing odd. Graham calls of his relationship with you not too long ago and now all of a sudden he's in a coma. Something doesn't add up."

Regina stood, placing her hands on her desk. Emma took a step closer.

"My personal life is none of your business. If you want someone to blame why not blame yourself? If you and your boyfriend hadn't come to my town then maybe Graham would still be alive."

"He's not dead."

"Yet," Regina shot. "Face it Miss Swan sometimes bad things happen. There is no fairytale ending here, Graham is not going to wake up. Best you just accept that."

"Accept it? You just cannot stand the fact that things have gotten better around here can you?"

"Better? You call Graham's accident better?"

"I do know he was getting out of your control. He finally had the balls to call things off with you permanently and he was getting better at not being your lap dog."

"Well until you've got actual evidence that I caused his accident right now you've got nothing on me."

"When this is over I probably won't need it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You're the mayor, you figure it out."

"You know you're lucky you're pregnant Miss Swan because once you're not, things between you and me are gonna get a lot worse."

Emma smiled a little and backed up, "Careful Regina, your black heart is showing."

* * *

The door chime to the pawn shop sounded. Gold didn't bother to look up from his place at the center counter.

"I have strict orders from my son to stay away from you Miss Swan," he said to her.

"I figured. He doesn't trust you and after what you put him through can you blame him?"

Gold looked up at Emma for the first time and it was three in her eyes that he saw it. Gold let out a small smile.

"So you know. You believe."

"Yeah, I do."

"So what's it like now knowing that Mary Margaret and David are your parents?" Emma ignored his question so Gold moved on. "No doubt Baelfire had something to do with changing your mind."

"Neal," Emma corrected, "Guided me. He didn't force me to believe in anything."

"So what brings you to my shop?"

"I need to know what to do. I need to know how to defeat Regina, how to break this curse."

"And what makes you think I can help," Gold asked, knowing the answer.

"Because you created the curse Gold which means you know how it can be undone."

"That is true but I'm not the savior, you are."

"So that's it then, you're not going to give me anything?"

"There's nothing I can give you Miss Swan, the future took a different turn than even I expected."

"And what were you expecting?"

"Before you were born I told your parents that you would return on your twenty-eighth birthday, not when you were eighteen. Regardless of how events unfolded that does not change who and what you are. You are the product of true love Miss Swan, only you contain the power."

"What does that even mean?"

"You know what it means, you've always known."

"No I don't. If that were true then my life wouldn't have turned out the way it did."

"Maybe the way you grew up was exactly the way it was supposed to otherwise you would never have met my son."

"So you're saying that this was all your doing, you knew?"

"Not at all," said Gold. "I'm saying that sometimes forces conspire, forces greater than us that go beyond our control and there's nothing we can do to stop it. It would appear that when it comes to you and my boy, the universe has a sense of humor. Kind of poetic almost: the savior falls in love with the reason the curse was created in the first place."

"Great so what do I do?"

"Relax Miss Swan, there's no rush. Events will unfold in their own time and when they do the time will come for you to break the curse but that time is not now."

"How will I know?"

"You'll know. And when you do your parents will remember who you are in no time."

"So what's your price for all this cryptic advice? Neal said you always come with a price."

"For you Miss Swan this charge and every one after this on the house."

"Just like that?"

"You're carrying my grandson Emma and you're engaged to my boy. That practically makes you family. And who knows this might get me back into my son's good graces."

* * *

Emma rested a hand on her six month belly, her right hand held a cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon, as she sat at the table in Mary Margaret's apartment. She was there with Mary Margaret and David. Neal had gone back to the office having been called away on a new case. With three months to go neither of them wanted to risk herself or the baby but even now Emma hated being useless. She wanted to be out in the field, out doing something and not just acting as a secretary and doing paperwork.

"Emma, Emma?"

Emma shook her head and refocused on Mary Margaret.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it."

Emma placed her cup on the table; she hadn't realized that she had finished her drink so David went to refill it.

"Just a lot on my mind I guess," said Emma.

David returned with a fresh cup. Emma smiled and nodded her thanks.

Though Emma hadn't answered Gold's question in his shop, it was one that she couldn't stop thinking about. 'What's it like knowing that Mary Margaret and David are your parents' he had asked.

When Emma had returned home, she went for the Once Upon a Time book. She held her baby blanket with her name embroidered on it as she looked through the pages of her parents' history and the beginning of hers. It was what had brought her to sitting in their apartment now.

"Do you think I look like either of you," Emma blurted out.

The question caught the two of them off guard.

"Umm…well…," Mary Margaret began, "David and I have often joked that you do kind of have my chin."

Emma smiled. She had often joked about it too. In fact Neal had been the first one to comment on it.

"Emma," said Mary Margaret, "What's this really about?"

Emma shook her head for the second time. "I don't know I guess with Henry coming," Emma said using the baby's middle name since older David was in the room, "I've been thinking a lot about my own parents."

Emma could feel herself folding inward but she didn't care. She needed them to hear this even if they didn't remember.

"I was angry at them for so long, wondering how they could make the choice to let me grow up without them, but then learning the truth, as insane and impossible as it seems; they gave up everything for me. Their idea of the life I should have had so that I could get the chance at a normal life. It wasn't always perfect but at least it was something and slightly better than the alternative."

"They wanted to give you your best chance," said David.

"Yeah something like that," Emma replied.

"So you've found them then," asked Mary Margaret, "Your parents?"

This time Emma looked up at her friends, two people whom she had all ready considered family before accepting the truth, the truth that these two twenty-eight year olds were her parents.

"I have," said Emma.

"That's great," said David, "Have you tried to contact them?"

"It's a bit more complicated. See here's the thing, they don't exactly remember who they are and again it's complicated." David and Mary Margaret looked confused, "but I know who they are even if they don't and right now that's what matters."

Unsure of where to take the conversation due to the confusion, Mary Margaret thought it was best to go along with Emma's train of thought."

"Do you think they will remember if they could?"

"I'd like to think so but the only way that can happen is if I could find a way to bring them back and I'm not sure I know how to do that."

Mary Margaret reached for Emma's hand that was on the table. "You'll find a way and when you do I'm sure your parents will be more than happy to see you."

Emma squeezed Mary Margaret's hand. She wasn't sure why but those were the words she needed to hear from her. Maybe it was the idea of a mother comforting a daughter. Yes Emma was legally an adult and yes she was going to be a mother herself but sometimes a girl just needed her mom and dad and that's exactly what Mary Margaret and David were being even if they didn't know it.


	16. Diaper Parties

**Chapter 15: Diaper Parties**

* * *

"You're thinking about Emma again aren't you," David asked a week later as he and Mary Margaret lay in their bed at the apartment.

"And you're not? The things she said last week don't bother you?"

"Sure they do but we can't take her words at face value. Emma's pregnant, her hormones are all over the place and she didn't have her own parents growing up. It's understandable that she'd be nostalgic for things she never had and why she'd try to look for facial recognition in other people."

"No I know."

"Mary Margaret, we're not her parents."

"That's what we keep telling ourselves, David, but what if it's only half true? Ever since Emma got here she's felt like family. I can't explain why."

David sighed, "I know I've felt it too."

Mary Margaret sat up, "Then why haven't you said anything?"

David sat up too, "Because you've all ready been mothering her and while I've unintentionally been acting like a father I haven't wanted too because I figured if that started happening then we'd just be pretending that we're this happy family: you, me, Emma, Neal and the baby. Can you imagine us as grandparents at this age? The truth is we're not family."

"Maybe not but maybe this is how things are meant to be."

David kissed his girlfriend. "Ever the hopeful optimist," he said to her.

Mary Margaret smiled, "I know. I also know that Emma needs us right now because other than Neal she has no one else. Emma's no older than Ashley was when she had her baby. It can't easy being a teenage mom so the least we can do is be there for her."

"I guess you're right. I just want this to work out, for all of us."

"It will, somehow. We should probably get the day rolling."

"That's right; it's a big day for Emma and Neal."

* * *

At twenty-nine weeks Emma sat naked in the bathtub. Bubbles with a relaxing lavender aroma filled the room and candles lit the counter tops and anywhere else there was room for them to be placed, a little something Neal had put together for her.

The evening would be the night of her baby shower and he wanted her to be somewhat calm, not easy when Emma didn't want the attention on her. Emma had protested all day about it but Neal wasn't letting her back out and neither was Mary Margaret.

The water didn't fill the tub as high as Emma would have liked; her balloon of a belly protruding and visible, the bubbles surrounding the sides while the rest of her body was submerged, her breasts covered with more bubbles, all except for her shoulders.

Neal gently washed Emma's hair and feet since she couldn't reach them much anymore while she focused on the rest of her body, gently rubbing the mesh pouf over her belly. She oddly liked the feel of it and it appeared so did Henry as he kicked every time she circled. Emma winced a little. His movement was getting stronger. She still had roughly eleven weeks to go on her pregnancy but from everything she had seen and the television shows she watched it seemed like the kid inside was at its most active during the eighth month. Neal placed a hand where Henry kicked and could feel his son move. It never ceased to amaze him that there was a living being inside the woman he loved; how science seemed to go beyond science and create a life force; that was the greatest gift in this realm and all the others.

Neal looked into Emma's eyes, "You're beautiful."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Shut up. I'm eight months pregnant, no I'm not."

"You are. You just don't see it."

"Well as much as you love seeing me this way and as interesting as this all has been for me I'm looking forward to actually seeing him."

"So am I. Just less than two months to go. Do you think he'll be like his grandpa?"

"Which one?"

Neal let out a small laugh. "God help us if he's like my father."

"Neal, you ever consider giving him a break?"

"Emma-,"

"No I know you have your reasons but you've also been running from him for three hundred years, which is weird enough as it is but don't you think it's been long enough? Maybe if you just talk to him, tell him how you feel then you two can get a fresh start."

"Why does it matter?"

Emma reached for his hand and held it, "Because I've been there. I know what it's like to hate your parents when they've let you down."

"It's not the same."

"It kind of is Neal. Sure I may not have known mine but my hate, anger, and disappointment were just as real. It's because of you that I'm even getting this chance at all. Can you imagine what our lives would be like had you not convinced me to come here? I wouldn't have known David or Mary Margaret at all. I'm just saying give it some thought."

Neal looked at Emma. The way she looked at him had a way of melting his insides. Neal leaned in close and kissed her on the lips. "You're very persuasive you know that?"

"Mm, persuasive enough to skip out on the baby shower?"

"Sorry Em, not that persuasive. Persuasive enough that I'll promise to think about it if we can get back to our subject on who our kid will be like."

Emma pouted some, "Fine I'll take it."

"I' hoping he'll be like the grandfather of his namesake."

Emma ran her hands over her belly again. "No neither," she said looking down at the spot, "I'm hoping he's like you. I want him to have your humor and your smile."

"Okay but has to have your and your mother's chin as well as your eyes."

"Okay," Emma said looking up at him with a smile.

"Good now let's get you out of this tub."

Emma bit her finger and looked at him, "Or you could come in," she said with a coy smile."

"Nice try but you're going."

"Fine, I had to try."

Neal leaned over and nibbled on Emma's ear, "I promise I'll make it up to you in other ways."

"I'm holding you too that."

Neal laughed, "We should get you pregnant more often. You're horny when you're pregnant, it's pretty sexy."

Emma laughed and splashed some bubbles Neal's way.

* * *

In the evening Granny's Diner was closed for a private party. It was Ruby's idea to have the baby shower there. The gathering was small, for which Emma was grateful. She wasn't sure how she would have handled herself with a larger crowd. Next to Mary Margaret, Ruby, and Granny, some of the other guests included Ashley, who had her daughter Alexandra six months ago, Lacy whom Neal had discovered a while back in an abandoned asylum, and Katherine who had somehow been an old friend of David's before he had gone off the grid.

It was what you would expect of a typical baby shower with games such as guessing how large the baby belly was using toilet paper.

The whole town knew Emma was having a boy so streamers hung above the counter that read 'Congratulations it's a boy!' and the other decorations were white and blue.

When the time came for the gifts, items ranged from the embarrassing breast pump to a hand knitted blanket from Granny with David Henry's name on it in red. It was a gift that meant a lot to Emma since she had come to know that it was Granny who had knitted hers. The gift from David and Mary Margaret was also special, it was the unicorn mobile from Gold's shop which Emma had seen both there and in the story book that had once been placed over her crib and would now hang over the crib that Marco had built for them. The town it seemed was starting to subconsciously remember who they were even though consciously they didn't know it.

With the festivities winding down Mary Margaret made her way to where Emma was sitting.

"Quite a night hu," said Mary Margaret.

Emma smiled but winced at the same time. She had placed her hands on her belly trying to sooth Henry but it wasn't working.

"I take it he's not ready to settle down?" asked Mary Margaret.

"Just getting started it seems," said Emma. As if to reply to her comment Henry kicked with more force. "Ow," Emma said to him.

Mary Margaret smiled and placed a hand on Emma's belly. "Hi Henry, I'm Mary Margaret. I'm a friend of your mom's."

"Your voice is helping," said Emma, "keep talking to him."

"About what?"

"I don't know anything. You seem to be the baby whisperer right now since he's not really listening to me."

"Okay. Um… I bet your anxious to come out of there aren't you? Do us all a favor though and don't rush it otherwise your mom and dad and the rest of us will really start to worry."

"That's the best you've got, stay in there a while longer?"

"What I've never done this before," Mary Margaret said meeting Emma's eyes. Emma laughed a bit to herself. "What?"

"Nothing, it's nothing."

"No tell me."

"Sometimes I feel like you have done this before. I guess because in the time that I've known you, you've acted more like a mom to me than any of the other foster families I've had. It's different, it's kind of nice."

The two women smiled at each other.

* * *

Across the way at the same time as Emma's baby shower, David was hosting a father shower for Neal at the Rabbit Hole. A few of the guests there included Leroy, Archie, Jim the gym teacher and Katherine's boyfriend, Sean Ashley's boyfriend, and Marco.

Next to playing pool and enjoying beers the guys had brought packs of diapers and wipes as their gift of choice. There were even a few joke items such as a "Man behind the bump" t-shirts, and tool belts and boxes that contained goggles, masks, gloves, ear plugs, ponchos, toy rattles, more diapers, lotions, baby powder, bibs, and one-zees for the baby.

Neal and David were sitting at the bar while the others were playing darts at a nearby wall.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk," said David.

"You saying that as a friend or a father," asked Neal.

"I don't have any kids."

"You sure about that?"

David looked at Neal, unsure of where the conversation was going so Neal continued. "The way you act with Emma, I'd think otherwise. You try not to because according to you and Mary Margaret, you're not related but your actions say otherwise."

"You've noticed that hu?"

"It's hard not to. It's cool though, she hasn't exactly had a good man in her life."

"You mean besides you?"

Neal laughed some but said nothing.

"So what about your parents," David asked. "I know Emma's history but I don't know much about yours. Given the fatherly role I seem to have in Emma's life don't you think I should know about you since you're the father after the newest David?"

Neal nodded as he looked at his beer. "Fair enough," he said. "My father is around but we're not exactly close. My mother died when I was a kid and my father abandoned me when I was fourteen so I pretty much raised myself."

"So is that how you and Emma met? You were in the system too?"

"Not exactly. She stole the stolen car I was living in."

"You were thieves?"

"Is it really any surprise? A lost boy falls in love with a lost girl."

"I suppose. I just can't help but wish that Emma's life had been different."

"I know you do."

"That probably doesn't even make any sense considering I just met her months ago."

"It makes perfect sense trust me."

Before the two could talk any further Neal saw Gold passing by on the street. He could feel his heart racing.

"Excuse me," Neal said to David getting up and walking out of the bar.

* * *

"I'm not spying on you I promise," said Gold.

Neal placed his hands in his pockets. "No I know, it's a small town. We can't exactly avoid each other forever."

"Right. You look good, Bae."

"It's Neal," he corrected.

"Of course, it's gonna take me some time to get used to the name. Well I guess I'll be on my way then."

Neal bit his lip, "Wait."

The two rounded the corner so they wouldn't be seen by the guests inside.

Gold turned to look at his son, "Bae, Neal, you have to-,"

"Shut up I need to talk. For so long I was angry at you. When you broke our deal I prayed to God that you would never find me or that I would die so that it would be too late for you. That's how much I hated you. That's how badly I wanted to get away from you."

"Bae, you have to know that every day I have regretted that decision. I love you son but I was a coward and I let that overshadow that love and I am truly sorry."

"I am too but I'm still angry."

"I know but let me make it up to you."

"I'm not gonna let you turn back the clock. You can't erase the past. And I won't abandon my son the way you abandoned me."

"Fair enough. I don't want to force anything on you, Bae. I've done what you've asked: I've stayed away from Emma and you."

"And I appreciate that but here's the thing: I've spent over three hundred years of my life hating you, being angry. I don't know maybe we could start over or something."

"I'd like that very much."

"But I still don't trust you."

"I know but at least this is a start. Hopefully that will change."

"Yeah, whatever. So do you want to come in for a beer or something or do you have a new curse to prepare or whatever it is you do?"

"I could come in for a spell," said Gold.

The two nodded at each other, Gold smiled, and they went inside the Rabbit Hole.


	17. Light of Love

**Chapter 16: Light of Love**

* * *

The next several weeks were quickly passing by, time filled with doctor's appointments every week. Things with both Emma and the baby were going okay.

There was still no change in Graham's condition and Emma wondered if he would ever wake up. She had gone to visit him on occasion but her mobility was getting a bit limited. Emma had voiced her connection to Graham to Neal one night and whenever they needed answers Neal went to the story book. He showed Emma the story of how in the other life Graham was the Huntsman which was why the white wolf had passed by the hospital in the late night; he was waiting for his protector to wake up. Neal explained to Emma that had Graham killed Snow White like he was supposed to then she wouldn't have been born. Graham was in some way responsible for Emma.

* * *

Regina fumed as she often did. Graham's room was under constant surveillance and since there was no magic there was no way of getting around it. Going near Emma was also off limits since she was often around her parents or Neal. Even Gold stuck around since he and Neal were getting quite chummy. All Regina could do was bide her time and then once Emma was rid of the baby she would make her move.

* * *

"What are we doing here," Emma asked as she and Neal stood inside the crypt.

"Looking for insurance," said Neal looking around the mausoleum.

"Insurance for what, what could we find that's important here?"

"Haven't you read the book?"

"I tend to skip over parts containing creepy cemeteries."

Neal let out a small laugh. He decided to give Henry Mills' coffin a shove and when it budged, Neal pushed with more strength. When it was completely open a set of stairs led to a sub-level basement. At thirty-three weeks pregnant, Neal helped Emma descend the stairs.

There against the left wall was a row of boxes that looked like safe deposit boxes.

"What's in them," Emma asked.

"Hearts."

"Hearts, like actual hearts? That's kind of morbid."

"A bit."

"Why would Regina collect them?"

"For control. A heart is more than a beating organ. When you extract a person's heart you can either kill them or control them. My father used to do it all the time to bend a person to his will. Regina took Graham's heart when he failed to kill your mom."

Neal pulled out a fifth box and opened it. Inside the heart was glowing and beating.

"Here it is."

Emma looked at the heart. "How do you know that's his?"

"See that paw on it? The wolves are his family to the point where they've left a physical mark. Regina will no doubt try to get Graham to go after you so we need to keep her from controlling him. Come on, we need to get out of here."

The two of them left but what they had not known was that Regina was watching them leave. When they were out of sight she went inside the mausoleum and down to the vault not trusting them. She had come to visit with her father and it had been a chance encounter that she had seen them. She now wished she had arrived sooner to confront them.

Regina searched her hearts and found the one that was missing: Sheriff Graham's. Regina took a deep breath and angrily took a heart from one of the boxes, crushing it to ash, not caring whose it belonged to. Across town an unknown woman was having a heart attack and within seconds would be dead.

* * *

Time seemed to be speeding up. Neal and David had been spending their time working on the nursery. It satisfied Emma to see them getting along.

At thirty-nine weeks Emma could barely move. She knew the baby was coming soon, she just wasn't sure when. She had read that women went into labor between the thirty-eighth and forty-one weeks. After today Emma would begin her fortieth week.

Exactly on the start of Emma's fortieth week Neal had walked over to the door after hearing a knock come mid day. He and Emma knew it couldn't be David or Mary Margaret since they both had keys.

"Hope I'm not too late," August said when Neal opened the door.

After being stunned Neal said, "August, man what are you doing here?"

"You didn't think I'd miss this did you?"

"Neal who is it," Emma said uncomfortably waddling to the door.

"Emma Swan," said Neal as he ushered in their guest, "August W. Booth."

"You're August," Emma asked, unsure of whether to be pleased or pissed.

"It's good to finally meet you again. And good to see you believe."

Emma crossed her arms over her belly, "What makes you think I believe?"

"Because if you didn't I'd be a hunk of wood by now."

Emma looked at Neal, "What does he mean, who is he?"

"My name in the Enchanted Forest was Pinocchio."

Emma released her arms and laughed, "Pinocchio: the wooden puppet who turned into a real boy and whose nose grew every time he lied?"

"The very one," said August, "except my nose doesn't grow. If I screw up or am not true then little by little my body starts to turn to wood."

August took a few steps toward Emma. He took her hands. Emma wanted to pull back but there was something in his eyes, something familiar. Neal wanted to get close but instead he kept his distance.

"I'm so sorry, Emma. I was supposed to be there for you and I wasn't. I was supposed to protect you and get you on your path but I failed and when I did find you I was too much of a coward to enter your life."

"So that's why you had Neal do it instead."

"You trust him. I didn't think you'd trust me."

"You're probably right about that."

"So are we good then," asked August.

"I still don't know you."

"Hopefully that will change. In the meantime I have something for you, for the baby."

August reached into the man bag that was slung across his chest. This time Neal did stand near Emma as August handed her the book. The title read 'There Once Was a Little Prince'. Emma opened it and came to find that it resembled the 'Once Upon a Time' book in both style and art.

The first page began:

_There once was a special little prince_

_who was born from two special parents_

_who came from two very special families…_

Emma looked at August with a new sense of recognition. "It was you," she said, "I remember, how do I remember?"

August smiled, "Magic."

"You left. You left me there."

"I know and I'm deeply sorry Emma. I'm not exactly good at saying 'no' but I hate myself for leaving. I'll never leave again, I promise."

"You better not because if you do I'll stop believing and then you're really screwed."

The three of them let out small laughs and smiled.

"Permission to hug you?"

"Good luck," Emma said.

Out of all the awkward issues of being pregnant hugging people was certainly a challenge.

"There's some place I have to be but I'll check in on you guys later. Hey Neal, thanks for getting her here."

Neal simply nodded. "Aren't you glad I stayed?"

"Honestly," said August, "I wasn't sure this was going to work. I thought you leaving was Emma's best chance. Clearly I was wrong but I've been wrong about a lot of things so in the end what do I know?" August smiled at them, "I'll see you guys later."

* * *

By Friday evening, nearing the final week of Emma's fortieth week she and Neal were visiting with Mary Margaret and David in their apartment. David had invited them over for dinner. Considering that Emma's belly was the size of a watermelon she wasn't sure she could keep any food down. It was hard enough that she was making constant bathroom visits, more so than any other time during her pregnancy.

The evening was going smoothly for the most part until 10:22 PM when Emma and Neal were getting ready to leave. As Emma stood up something inside her belly felt different. And then as if waiting for something Emma could feel a rush of water flow, down her pants.

"Emma you're leaking," said Neal.

"Haven't you been reading the books," Emma said to him, "I'm in labor."

"Sorry," said Neal, "I kind of skipped over that part." Then Neal went into panic first-time-daddy mode, "Okay what do I do? Call the hospital, go get the bag."

Instead of answering Emma let out a banshee-like scream.

"I'll call the hospital," David said going to the phone.

Mary Margaret was by Emma's side, "Okay Emma, just breathe, breathe, that's it."

"What do you mean the hospital is closed," David said yelling into the receiver. "Well I don't care open it or get any of the doctor's. My daughter is in labor and in a lot of pain so get someone." David hung up angrily.

Emma and Neal both noticed David's Freudian slip when he said the word 'daughter'.

"What's wrong," asked Neal.

"There's a problem at the hospital," said David, "Some kind of bomb threat or chemical spill."

"What!" Emma said raising her voice and then adding, "Ow."

"The entire hospital is under some kind of quarantine or lockdown so no one goes in or out."

"And this happens now," Emma said adding emphasis on the "ow" part as she clutched her belly.

"Of all times why now," asked Mary Margaret.

Emma took a breath, "Regina."

"You think she planned this," Mary Margaret asked skeptically.

"I know she did. She can't wait till the baby is out of me and what better way than to screw with the delivery by making sure the hospital is shut down and we have no access to doctors." Again she added another "ow" followed by a scream.

"I have to go check this out," Neal said though he didn't want to leave Emma but as the current sheriff he felt he had an obligation there as well.

"You are not leaving!" Emma commanded.

"Emma I have to."

"Screw the town! Right now I need you here."

Neal took a breath and was kind of glad that Emma was ordering him around. "They'll just have to figure it out without me then. Right now we need to worry about you. We have to do something," said Neal. He walked towards Emma, "Do you think you can make it downstairs?"

Emma tried to walk but when she did it felt like her lower half felt squishy and felt like at any minute the baby would drop out of her.

"I think he's coming," said Emma.

"We'll have to do it," said David.

Emma's eyes widened. "What! No absolutely not. I am not having my kid here and you are not going to see me down there!"

Emma let out another scream. Her contractions were getting closer.

"Baby we don't have a choice," said Neal.

"He's right," said Mary Margaret.

"Mary Margaret," said David beginning to take charge, "Let's get Emma over to the bed."

"Don't you dare," Emma complained.

Neal laughed some, "Em, we can't exactly take you to our apartment."

"I'll hold him in. I am not having this baby here."

Mary Margaret and David, even Neal ignored Emma's commands and took her to the bed. She was propped up. Neal worked on taking off Emma's pants and panties. She felt completely exposed despite her black t-shirt which wasn't really doing much to cover her enlarged belly; it scrunched up to cover only her breasts.

"This is not how I wanted to do this," Emma said through her tears.

Mary Margaret sat on Emma's left side and wiped her sweat with a wash cloth. "I know," she said to her. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

* * *

An hour and a half passed. Though Emma was far along in her contractions she wasn't quite dilated enough yet. The contractions felt like they were getting worse even though realistically they weren't.

David returned to the room with a medical bag and closed the drape around the room. He saw the looks that the other three were giving him.

"What, I wanted to be prepared in case something did happen. Unlike you're boyfriend there I did read the books."

"You didn't have to," Emma said.

David smiled as he placed on a blue gown and gloves from the bag, "Hey what are pretend dads for if they can't help their pretend daughter out?" David took a look at Emma's vaginal area and then right at 11:30 PM asked, "Emma you ready?"

Emma shook her head, "No."

David laughed, "Well he is. Okay Emma I need you to push, really push."

"I'm right here baby, I'm right here," said Neal, taking hold of Emma's hand.

"I am too," said Mary Margaret, taking hold of her Emma's other hand.

Emma's legs were stretched out as far as they could go. Emma took a deep breath and squeezing both her boyfriend and her mother's hand she raised herself into an almost sit-up like position and began to push, screaming and moaning all the while.

"Good, good," said David, "I see the head. Okay Emma, you can relax you're doing great."

Mary Margaret used the washcloth again on Emma's forehead. "Just think," she said, "In a few more minutes you'll have your precious little boy. Try to think about that instead of the pain."

"Right," said Emma.

"Okay Emma," said David, "Here we go. I need you to push again. You can do this."

Emma's legs felt like they were being stretched off but she willed herself to keep pushing.

"Good I've got his shoulders," said David, "One more big push Emma. That's my girl."

"We're almost there Em," Neal said placing a kiss on her forehead. "Squeeze as hard as you need to okay?"

Emma yelled and screamed her lungs out. The lights around them flickered after another final push David told Emma to stop saying that he was out; they heard him crying. David Henry was born at exactly 12:01 AM.

David smiled holding up David Henry, his grandson, still connected to his mother. "You did it," said David, "Here's your boy."

Emma smiled through her tears, "He's perfect."

David looked at Neal. "Dad, do you want to do the honors?"

Neal nodded, gloved up and cut the cord. After that was David took care of the afterbirth and stitched Emma up. Mary Margaret then went and got a blanket to cover up Emma with. David cleared Henry's airway with the teal looking baste instrument and then cleaned him up. David then took off his gloves and gown. He then handed the baby to Neal, who looked down at his son. Neal then brought the baby over to Emma. Emma smiled at her little guy.

"We did it," said Emma, "We actually did it."

"No you did it," said Neal, "You did the hard part." Emma looked up at Neal and smiled. "I love you, more than anything."

"I love you too," Emma said kissing him.

She turned her attention to the child in her arms, "I love you Henry," she said reaching up to place a kiss on the baby's head.

As she did this a wave of light spread throughout the room and the town.

In the time of Emma's delivery the other towns people had come to find that the quarantine and lockdown threats were exactly that, threats. People woke up as if from a haze and turned when they saw Regina, knowing it was her who had forced the town into a panic.

Gold smiled at his shop knowing that true love's kiss had broken the curse.

At the hospital Graham's eyes opened and he was fully alert.

* * *

Back in the apartment Mary Margaret looked at David.

"Snow?" he asked.

Mary Margaret smiled, "Charming!"

Mary Margaret got up from her spot on the bed and went to him, kissing him like Emma had never seen them kiss before.

"Neal, what's going on?" Emma asked.

Neal smiled at his family, "You did it, you broke the curse."

Mary Margaret and David turned to look at Emma. They remembered who they were and now knew the truth, that Emma really was their daughter. And not only that but they looked at the little bundle in Emma's arms realizing that they had just helped to bring their own grandson into the world.

Emma's eyes were filled with new tears, "Mom, dad?"

The couple smiled at their title. Mary Margaret cautiously took a step toward Emma. She then cupped Emma's face, admiring her daughter with a new set of eyes. "You found us," she said kissing the top of her daughter's head.

Emma smiled as their heads met. Mary Margaret then pulled back. The moment was broken when a cooing sound broke them from their state of parental bliss. Emma looked down at Henry and smiled and then at Mary Margaret.

"Do you want to hold your grandson?" she asked.

Mary Margaret let out a laugh. "I'm really a grandma," she said.

David took a step toward them, "And that makes me a grandpa."

Emma gently passed Henry off to Mary Margaret. The woman held the baby with a snug tightness. "Hi David Henry," she said using the boy's full name. "I'm your grandma. We want you to know that you come from a special family and you will never be alone."

Mary Margaret looked at David and smiled at him and then at Emma and Neal and smiled at them.

Emma smiled too and then leaned into Neal, finally feeling like she could relax.

No one could say what the future held. It didn't matter to Emma or to anyone that she was still a teenage mom. The only thing that mattered was that they were a family. Dealing with Regina and the town's renewed memories could wait, for now Emma wanted to enjoy the sense of normalcy that this town, her parents, and Neal had given her since coming to Storybrooke.

"Thank you," Emma said to Neal.

"For what?"

"Helping me find my family. I don't know what my life would have turned out to be had you left."

"It's a good thing you'll never have to find out."

Emma smiled and closed her eyes- not fully falling asleep but feeling content in the moment around her.

* * *

**~END~**


End file.
